The introduction establishes the conceptual and theoretical foundation for the project, so it makes the case for productively combining ecocriticism, adaptation studies, and cognitive theory. Melding these diverse approaches, which represent thriving subfields within and beyond literary studies, yields an updated version of the self. This is not an exclusively literary phenomenon. Rather, literary play with selfhood illuminates the cognitive work required to navigate the actual world. To illuminate the relevant processes, I call upon the scholarship of philosopher Thomas Metzinger. A dedicated materialist, Metzinger writes of the self as a “myth,” yet also a by-product of neural activity. Whereas Metzinger emphasizes the material or biological basis of phenomenology, I extend this work by making the case for ecophenomenology, which harmonizes awareness of humans’ embedment in the world with the storytelling and reflective consciousness that define our species. Shakespeare anticipates the storytelling self in The Tempest, but the five adaptations examined in subsequent chapters give it much fuller expression.