America’s Darwin: Darwinian Theory and U.S. Literary Culture , ed. Tina Gianquitto and Lydia Fisher (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: America’s Darwin: Darwinian Theory and U.S. Literary Culture, ed. Tina Gianquitto and Lydia Fisher Dan Colson (bio) America’s Darwin: Darwinian Theory and U.S. Literary Culture, edited by Tina Gianquitto and Lydia Fisher. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2014. vi + 401 pp. Cloth, $89.95; Paper, $29.95. In his 1860 review of On the Origin of Species, Anglican bishop Samuel Wilberforce attacked Charles Darwin for applying “the principle of natural [End Page 91] selection to man himself,” arguing that “such a notion is absolutely incompatible [with] the word of God.” More than 150 years later, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker was asked, in London, if he believed in evolution. Walker “punt[ed],” claiming “that’s a question politicians shouldn’t be involved in one way or another.” He later tweeted a clarification: “Both science & my faith dictate my belief that we are created by God.” While Walker’s position diverges from Wilberforce by suggesting that science—including evolutionary theory—is “compatible” with religion, his statements indicate the continuing stakes of Darwin’s ideas: they remain a site of political contestation, as much a cultural force as they are accepted scientific fact. The essays collected in America’s Darwin: Darwinian Theory and U.S. Literary Culture trace this profound cultural impact, offering a timely exploration of the United States’ struggle with Darwin’s scientific work. While the book’s subtitle suggest that it comprises essays focused primarily on American literature, the collection actually has far broader resonance, effectively constructing a cultural history of Darwin’s impact on the United States. The volume includes an admirable range, both chronologically and disciplinarily, from the early impact of Darwin’s evolutionary theory—on, for example, Herman Melville’s posthumously published poetry—to the present, with essays on recent works by T. C. Boyle and Benjamin Hale. In addition, America’s Darwin includes chapters by scientists (a biologist, an entomologist, a geologist, and an anthropologist) alongside the more expected literary scholars. Doing so allows the text to move beyond the tepid interdisciplinarity that often involves nothing more than humanists speaking to humanists about other fields. America’s Darwin places scientists in conversation with the humanities, producing a genuinely cross-disciplinary project. As we might expect, the volume’s disparate essays do not offer a singular vision of Darwin’s influence; rather, they present a series of detailed examinations of evolutionary theory’s social, scientific, and cultural reverberations. This laudable specificity is heightened by the various authors’ commitment to reading Darwin’s texts. They move past the customary broad strokes, treating Darwin’s work as an archive that must be analyzed in its own linguistic and formal detail before its influence can be traced. This approach—which includes attention to lesser known Darwinian texts, such as The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants (1875)—offers readers a dual benefit: on one hand, the book accomplishes its goal of tracing the effect of Darwinian evolutionary theory on American literature; on the other, it provides useful insight into Darwin as a primary source—as [End Page 92] an author who produced texts that should be read, even by those of us who study literature. America’s Darwin includes fourteen essays, which editors Tina Gianquitto and Lydia Fisher divide into three major threads. The first considers “the influences of Darwin’s theories on broad currents in U.S. spiritual, aesthetic, and intellectual life.” The second focuses on the tension between socially progressive movements and those who read in evolutionary theory a regressive or degenerative vision of human development. The third addresses the more concrete fascination with animals and the ways their representation has been inflected by Darwinian theory. Collectively, these threads—and the essays in them—offer not just an impressive variety of approaches, but also suggestive interstices: they gesture toward a cohesive, yet complex narrative of Darwin’s impact, thus inviting further study. Of particular interest for readers of Studies in American Naturalism are the volume’s essays on Frank Norris—“The Loud Echo of a ‘Far Distant Past’: Darwin, Norris, and the Clarity of Anger”—and Jack London: “‘The Power of Choice’: Darwinian Concepts of Animal Mind in Jack London’s Dog...