Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Bankston, Bradley
URN	etd-01152004-152014
Title	Against Biopoetics: On the Use and Misuse of the Concept of Evolution in Contemporary Literary Theory
Degree	Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department	English
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Carl Freedman Committee Chair Ed White Committee Member Elsie Michie Committee Member John Protevi Committee Member William Demastes Committee Member Kate Jensen Dean's Representative
Keywords	biopoetics literary theory evolution complexity
Date of Defense	2003-11-03
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract 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 considers the implications this may have for literary theory. In its conclusion, this work argues that biopoetics, conceived from a dissatisfaction with other contemporary literary theories--and in particular with such theories-- politicization of literature--is more dubious in its assumptions and reasoning, and more programmatically political, than the approaches that it seeks to replace.
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