The Literary animal: evolution and the nature of narrative

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In recent years, articles in major periodicals from New York Times Magazine to Times Literary Supplement have heralded arrival of a new school of literary studies that promises-or threatens-to profoundly shift current paradigm. This revolutionary approach, known as Darwinian literary studies, is based on a few simple premises: evolution has produced a universal landscape of human mind that can be scientifically mapped; these universal tendencies are reflected in composition, reception, and interpretation of literary works; and an understanding of evolutionary foundations of human behavior, psychology, and culture will enable literary scholars to gain powerful new perspectives on elements, form, and nature of storytelling. The goal of this book is to overcome some of widespread misunderstandings about meaning of a Darwinian approach to human mind generally, and literature specifically. The volume brings together scholars from forefront of new field of evolutionary literary analysis-both literary analysts who have made evolution their explanatory framework and evolutionist scientists who have taken a serious interest in literature-to show how human propensity for literature and art can be properly framed as a true evolutionary problem. Their work is an important step toward long-prophesied synthesis of humanities and what Steven Pinker calls the new sciences of human nature.