The Literary Animal

by Gottschall, Jonathan; Wilson, David Sloan; Wilson, Edward O.; Crews, Frederick

• ISBN13: 9780810122864
• ISBN10: 0810122863
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-01-31
• Publisher: Northwestern Univ Pr

Summary

The goal of this book is to overcome some of the misunderstandings about the meaning of a Darwinian approach to the human mind generally, and literature specifically. It attempts to show how the human propensity for literature and art can be properly framed as a true evolutionary problem.

Author Biography

Jonathan Gottschall has a Phd in English and teaches at St. Lawrence University.

David Sloan Wilson is professor of biology and anthropology at Binghamton University.

Table of Contents

Foreword from the Scientific Side	vii
E. O. Wilson
Foreword from the Literary Side	xiii
Frederick Crews
Introduction: Literature---a Last Frontier in Human Evolutionary Studies	xvii
Jonathan Gottschall
David Sloan Wilson
Part I: Evolution and Literary Theory
Literature, Science, and Human Nature	5	(15)
Ian McEwan
Evolutionary Social Constructivism	20	(18)
David Sloan Wilson
From Lacan to Darwin	38	(18)
Dylan Evans
What Happens in Hamlet? Exploring the Psychological Foundations of Drama	56	(20)
Daniel Nettle
Human Nature and Literary Meaning: A Theoretical Model Illustrated with a Critique of Pride and Prejudice	76	(31)
Joseph Carroll
The Problem of Romantic Love: Shakespeare and Evolutionary Psychology	107	(19)
Marcus Nordlund
Male Bonding in the Epics and Romances	126	(21)
Robin Fox
Part II: The Evolutionary Riddle of Art
Evolutionary Theories of Art	147	(30)
Brian Boyd
Reverse-Engineering Narrative: Evidence of Special Design	177	(22)
Michelle Scalise Sugiyama
Part III: Darwinian Theory and Scientific Methods
Quantitative Literary Study: A Modest Manifesto and Testing the Hypotheses of Feminist Fairy Tale Studies	199	(26)
Jonathan Gottschall
Proper Hero Dads and Dark Hero Cads: Alternate Mating Strategies Exemplified in British Romantic Literature	225	(19)
Daniel J. Kruger
Maryanne Fisher
Ian Jobling
Crossing the Abyss: Erotica and the Intersection of Evolutionary Psychology and Literary Studies	244	(15)
Catherine Salmon
Afterword	259	(6)
Denis Dutton
Works Cited	265	(36)
Contributors	301