Madame Bovary's Ovaries: A Darwinian Look at Literature
Author:
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Author:
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
As one might expect from the title, this book takes a light-hearted look at the way in which biological imperatives drive the characterization and plot of many pieces of classic literature.
Briefly put, that biological imperative is to send one's genes into the future, and to do so by choosing the partner best equipped to get them there. Pretty straightforward and Darwinian, if not overly romantic.
The authors try valiantly to expand this simple concept to fill 358 pages, and as one might expect, it gets a little iffy at times. They do fine when making the notion of "biologic fitness" comprehensible, and choose interesting (if sometimes obvious) pieces of literature to demonstrate what that means to fictional characters.
But the whole thing falls apart when they get beyond traditional parenting and wander off into the biological basis for altruism in non-related subjects and the notion of "selected kinship", in which individuals from another genetic line are offered the social/cultural amenities normally reserved for offspring or potential mates.
By the time they get to the subject of adoption and beyond that to non-sexual buddy literature ('Three Musketeers', anyone?) the whole biological imperative thing seems to be left in the dust. Same-sex relationships don't even get a passing glance.
As pop science goes, it's an entertaining read, but it will hardly revolutionize one's view of Madame Bovary -- or any of the other literary creations it attempts to shoehorn into the premise.
Briefly put, that biological imperative is to send one's genes into the future, and to do so by choosing the partner best equipped to get them there. Pretty straightforward and Darwinian, if not overly romantic.
The authors try valiantly to expand this simple concept to fill 358 pages, and as one might expect, it gets a little iffy at times. They do fine when making the notion of "biologic fitness" comprehensible, and choose interesting (if sometimes obvious) pieces of literature to demonstrate what that means to fictional characters.
But the whole thing falls apart when they get beyond traditional parenting and wander off into the biological basis for altruism in non-related subjects and the notion of "selected kinship", in which individuals from another genetic line are offered the social/cultural amenities normally reserved for offspring or potential mates.
By the time they get to the subject of adoption and beyond that to non-sexual buddy literature ('Three Musketeers', anyone?) the whole biological imperative thing seems to be left in the dust. Same-sex relationships don't even get a passing glance.
As pop science goes, it's an entertaining read, but it will hardly revolutionize one's view of Madame Bovary -- or any of the other literary creations it attempts to shoehorn into the premise.
