Reading Human Nature - 9781438435220

Carroll (English, U. of Missouri-St. Louis) presents a wide-ranging, multipronged argument in support of literary Darwinism, which he views as offering unique insight into human nature. He outlines the evolution of literary Darwinism, summing up the current state of the field, outlining its past several decades of progress, and assessing future developments. The volume includes examples of the theory in practice in a number of essays exploring such issues as sexual dimorphism, maternal bonding and neurophysiology in works like Hamlet and Wuthering Heights and describes an online research project designed to deconstruct literature via statistical analysis of thousands of individual reader responses. The work skillfully investigates the deep impacts of science on the understanding of human nature and its literary expression since Darwin's time. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)