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Against Biopoetics: On The Use And Misuse Of The Concept Of Evolution In Contemporary Literary Theory, Bradley Bankston

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is a critical assessment of "biopoetics:" a new literary theory that attempts to import ideas from evolutionary science to the study of literature. Borrowing from the field of evolutionary psychology, the biopoeticists argue that some literary forms and themes are particularly valuable because they result from our innate and evolved cognitive structure; they also attempt to create a normative aesthetic from the idea that evolution is progressive. In its first half, this study examines the claims of evolutionary psychology and their application by the biopoeticists; in the second half, it examines the idea that evolution is progressive, and …