American classics : evolutionary perspectives / Judith P. Saunders.

By:

Saunders, Judith P [author.]

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Evolution, cognition, and the artsPublisher: Boston : Academic Studies Press, 2018Description: 1 online resourceContent type:

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9781618117670
161811767X
9781618115928
1618115928
9781618117656
1618117653
9781618117663
1618117661

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Print version:: American classics.DDC classification:

810.9 23

LOC classification:

PS169.E88

Online resources:

EBSCOhost

Contents:

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Glossary -- Introduction -- 1. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: The Story of a Successful Social Animal -- 2. Nepotism in Hawthorne's "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" -- 3. Biophilia in Thoreau's Walden -- 4. Bateman's Principle in "Song of Myself": Whitman Celebrates Male Ardency -- 5. Maladaptive Behavior and Auctorial Design: Huck Finn's Pap -- 6. Hell's Fury: Female Mate-Retention Strategies in Wharton's "Pomegranate Seed" and Ethan Frome -- 7. Male Reproductive Strategies in Sherwood Anderson's "The Untold Lie" -- 8. The Great Gatsby: An Unusual Case of Mate Poaching -- 9. Female Sexual Strategies in the Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay -- 10. Philosophy and Fitness: Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" and The Sun Also Rises -- 11. Paternal Confidence in Zora Neale Hurston's "The Gilded Six-Bits" -- 12. The Role of the Arts in Male Courtship Display: Billy Collins's "Serenade" -- Conclusion -- Works Cited -- Index

Summary: This collection of essays offers evolutionary psychological analysis of selected works from the American literary tradition. Application of evolutionary theory to writing by Ben Franklin, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Edith Wharton, F. Scot Fitzgerald, Zora Neal Hurston, and others creates an interdisciplinary framework for examining key textual features--plot, theme, tone, setting, symbol, characterization, point of view--and at the same time provides an accessible introduction to Darwinian literary critical methodology. Pertinent scientific research, together with essential terms and concepts, is explained in context. Connections are made throughout to existing commentary on the targeted texts, illustrating how Darwinian scrutiny can enrich, extend, or reconfigure understandings derived from other critical approaches.

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This collection of essays offers evolutionary psychological analysis of selected works from the American literary tradition. Application of evolutionary theory to writing by Ben Franklin, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Edith Wharton, F. Scot Fitzgerald, Zora Neal Hurston, and others creates an interdisciplinary framework for examining key textual features--plot, theme, tone, setting, symbol, characterization, point of view--and at the same time provides an accessible introduction to Darwinian literary critical methodology. Pertinent scientific research, together with essential terms and concepts, is explained in context. Connections are made throughout to existing commentary on the targeted texts, illustrating how Darwinian scrutiny can enrich, extend, or reconfigure understandings derived from other critical approaches.