Joseph Carroll

the evolutionary basis of literary meaning

Graphing Jane Austen

Mathias Clasen

Emelie Jonsson

This pioneering volume offers an expansive introduction to the relatively new field of evolutionary studies in imaginative culture. Contributors from psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, and the humanities probe the evolved human imagination and its artefacts. The book forcefully demonstrates that imagination is part of human nature. Contributors explore imaginative culture in seven main areas: Imagination: Evolution, Mechanisms and Functions Myth and Religion Aesthetic Theory Music Visual and Plastic Arts Video Games and Films Oral Narratives and Literature Evolutionary Perspectives on Imaginative Culture widens the scope of evolutionary cultural theory to include much of what “culture” means in common usage. The contributors aim to convince scholars in both the humanities and the evolutionary human sciences that biology and imaginative culture are intimately intertwined. The contributors illuminate this broad theoretical argument with comprehensive insights into religion, ideology, personal identity, and many particular works of art, music, literature, film, and digital media. The chapters “Imagination, the Brain’s Default Mode Network, and Imaginative Verbal Artifacts” and “The Role of Aesthetic Style in Alleviating Anxiety About the Future” are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Evolutionary Perspectives on Imaginative Culture

Jonathan Gottschall

Brian Boyd

"Original and uniqueùthere is almost by default no collection like it at present. The field of evolutionary literary studies is coalescing as I write, and the publication of this book will have a decisive and positive impact in this regard."-Peter Swirski, Author Of Literature, Analytically Speaking evolution, Literature, And Film opens with Charles Darwin on the logic of natural selection, Richard Dawkins on the genetic revolution of modern evolutionary theory, Edward O. Wilson on the unity of knowledge, Steven Pinker on the transformation of psychology into an explanatory science, and David Sloan Wilson on the integration of evolutionary theory into cultural critique. Later essays include discussions of evolutionary literary theory and film theory, interpretive commentaries on works of literature and film, and analyses using empirical methods to explore literary problems. Texts under the microscope include folk- and fairy tales; Homer's Iliad; Shakespeare's plays; works by Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, and Zora Neale Hurston; narratives in sci-fi, comics, and slash fiction; and films from Europe, America, Asia, and Africa. Each essay explains the contribution of evolution to a study of the human mind, human behavior, culture, and art. "Extremely well conceived, bringing together classics from the early days and the cutting edge of recent statistical scholarship. The essays are excellent and represent the best work being done right now in the field."-Blakey Vermeule, Stanford University Brian Boyd is University Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Auckland. The world's leading scholar of Vladimir Nabokov, Joseph Carroll is Curators' Professor of English at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Jonathan Gottschall teaches English at Washington and Jefferson College.

A Reader

Evolution, Literature, and Film

Over the past two decades, poststructuralism in its myriad forms has come to dominate literary criticism to the exclusion of virtually any other point of view. Few scholars have escaped the coercive authority of its programmatic radicalism. In Evolution and Literary Theory, Joseph Carroll vigorously attacks the foundational principles of poststructuralism and offers in their stead a bold new theory that situates literary criticism within the matrix of evolutionary theory.

Evolution and Literary Theory

Stephen David Fischer

The lessons covered are organized around National Science Education Standards and are designed to improve student skills in science, critical thinking, reading and writing.

Higher-order Thinking, Reading, Writing in Science

Science Detective Beginning

First published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Evolution, Human Nature, and Literature

Literary Darwinism

In Literary Darwinism , Carroll presents a comprehensive survey of this new movement with a collection of his most important previously published work, along with three new essays. The essays and reviews give commentary on all the major contributors to the field, situate the field as a whole in relation to historical trends and contemporary schools, provide Darwinist readings of major literary texts such as Pride and Prejudice and Tess of the d'Urbervilles , and analyze literary Darwinism in relation to the affiliated fields of evolutionary metaphysics, cognitive rhetoric, and ecocriticism. Collecting the essays in a single volume will provide a central point of reference for scholars interested in consulting what the "foremost practicioner" ( New York Times ) of Darwinian literary criticism has to say about his field.

Showcases the latest developments in literary Darwinism, a powerful approach that integrates evolutionary social science with literary humanism.

Joseph Carroll

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