Darwin and Faulkner's Novels
Evolution and Southern Fiction
Wainwright, Michael
Hardcover
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We're sorry, but we do not currently have this book in stock.BOOK SYNOPSIS
Displaying a wide range of knowledge and interpretive skill, Darwin and Faulkner’s Novels reexamines the fiction of the great twentieth century American author from the interdisciplinary perspective of sociobiology. Challenging the assumption that Faulkner’s South was nothing other than a reactionary wilderness and charting the manner in which Faulkner learned and applied his evolutionary concepts, this book unsettles staid interpretations of the Falknerian canon and overturns habitual judgments as to the value of his later novels.
AUTHOR BIO
Michael Wainwright is Lecturer in American Literature and Modernism, University of Lancaster. A two time winner of the Faulkner Conference Call for Papers, his publications include articles for the Mississippi Quarterly and Papers on Language and Literature, in addition to chapters in Faulkner and the Ecology of the South and Faulkners Sexualities.
BOOK REVIEWS
Wainwright's groundbreaking study moves from a careful reading of Faulkner in the context of the South's reception of Darwinian ideas to a fully-worked interpretation of his work in terms of a philosophically elaborated, evolutionary aesthetic. Whether dealing with the thematics of 'blood' and race, natural selection, environmentalism, or the ethics of the Prisoner's Dilemma, he offers a challenging interpretation of an oeuvre which he inhabits with both passion and mastery.--Tim Armstrong, Professor of Modern English and American Literature, Royal Holloway, University of London
Faulkners intuitive naturalism articulated itself in the evolutionary ideas available in his culture. Wainwright gives an intelligent and densely documented account of Faulkners engagements with these ideas. By adopting an evolutionary hermeneutic, Wainwright gains new angles of access into Faulkners figurations of inheritance, sexual politics, racial consciousness, and ecological awareness. His interpretive reflections culminate in a meditative dialogue with Faulkner on the themes of human rapacity and moral aspiration.--Joseph Carroll, author of Evolution and Literary Theory and Literary Darwinism: Evolution, Human Nature, and Literature
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MORE BOOK INFO
ISBN: 0230604625
ISBN(13-digit): 9780230604629
Dewey Decimal: 813/.509
Library of Congress: 2007032120
Book Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Language: ENG
No. of Pages: 243
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