All but three of the essays have been previously published elsewhere, sometimes in different forms or different titles. Most have been retouched for clarity, previously omitted sections have been added, and references have been abbreviated, expanded or brought up to date. [from the Introduction]

CONTENTS:

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Part One: Mapping the Disciplinary Landscape

1. The Use of Arnold in a Darwinian World

2. Biology and Poststructuralism

3. "Theory," Anti-Theory, and Empirical Criticism

4. Out of Eden and to the Left: A Review of John Ellis' Literature Lost: Social Agendas and the Corruption of the Humanities

5. Literary Study and Evolutionary Theory: A Review of Books by Alexander Argyros, Walter Koch, Karl Kroeber, Robert Storey, Frederick Turner, and Mark Turner

6. Pinker, Dickens, and the Functions of Literature

7. Wilson's Consilience and Literary Study

8. Ecocriticism, Cognitive Ethology, and the Environments of Victorian Fiction

Part Two: Adaptationist Literary Studies: Theory and Practical Criticism

1. The Deep Structure of Literary Representations

2. Universals in Literary Study

3. Human Universals and Literary Meaning: A Sociobiological Critique of Pride and Prejudice, Villette, O Pioneers!, Anna of the Five Towns, and Tess of the d'Urbervilles

4. Organism, Environment, and Literature

5. Adaptationist Criteria of Literary Value: Assessing Kurtén' Dance of the Tiger, Auel's The Clan of the Cave Bear, and Golding's The Inheritors

6. Human Nature and Literary Meaning: A Theoretical Model Illustrated with a Critique of Pride and Prejudice

Part Three: Darwin and Darwinism

1. The Origin of Charles Darwin: A Review of Three Darwin Biographies

2. Modern Darwinism and the Pseudo-Revolutions of Stephen Jay Gould

References

Index