American Classics Evolutionary Perspectives [Hardcover]

The inaugural book in ASP's newEvolution, Cognition, and the Artsseries, this collection of essays examines selected works in the American literary tradition from an evolutionary perspective. Using an interdisciplinary framework to pose new questions about long admired, much discussed texts, the collection as a whole provides an introduction to Darwinian literary critical methodology. Individual essays feature a variety of figuresBenjamin Franklin to Billy Collinstargeting fitness-related issues ranging from sexual strategies and parental investment to cheating and deception. Attention is paid to the physical and social environments in which fictional characters are placed, including the influence of culturalhistorical conditions on resource acquisition, status-building, competition, and reciprocity. Discussion throughout the volume makes connections to existing secondary comment, suggesting how Darwinian scrutiny can generate unexpected insights into long familiar works.
Judith Saunderss book shows just how good evolutionary literary criticism can be. She convincingly demonstrates that an evolutionary critic can generate new insights about literary works to which many generations of scholars have already devoted critical attention. Moreover, she unites a fine literary sensibility with special gifts for writing forceful and evocative prose. Her book belongs to that very small set of interpretive critical works that give specifically literary pleasure in their own right.

 Joseph Carroll, Curators' Professor of English, University of MissouriSt. Louis, editor in chief of Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture

• This volume will demonstrate the value of Darwinian Literary Criticism in action (i.e., practical application rather than theoretical speculation), integrating evolutionary analysis with examination of textualc+