Graphing Jane Austen: The Evolutionary Basis of Literary Meaning [Paperback]

This book helps to bridge the gap between science and literary scholarship. Building on findings in the evolutionary human sciences, the authors construct a model of human nature in order to illuminate the evolved psychology that shapes the organization of characters in nineteenth-century British novels, from Jane Austen to E. M. Forster.PART I: METHODS AND RESULTS A User's Manual Agonistic Structure Differentiated by Sex PART II: IMPLICATIONS Determinate Meanings Sexual Politics Adaptive Function PART III: CASE STUDIES Jane Austen, by the Numbers Indifferent Tragedy in The Mayor of Casterbridge

Graphing Jane Austen shines a spotlight that not only would make C. P. Snow proud but also helps better understand our culture's relationship with constructs like personality, gender, and introversion. - Brainpickings

In merging literary and evolutionary approaches, this book is certain to bring delight to an evolutionary audience and a combination of interest and consternation to the literary contingent. This is wholly appropriate for a fascinating pioneering work. - Christopher Boehm, Director, The Goodall Research Center, University of Southern California

[The authors] bring three vital ingredients to this study of nineteenth-century English novels: a love of the novels, a modern understanding of human evolutionary biology, and facility with modern methods of data analysis. The result is a stunning synthesis; many dream of some reconciliation between the sciences and the humanities. [This book] has actually stepped in and started us down that road. - Henry Harpending, professor of Anthropology, University of Utah

'Once every century or so, a paradigm shift erupts in how we perceive literature. Graphing Jane Austen is this century's revolution. It is a masterpiece of creative, synthesizing science that lays the groundwork for an entirely new way of looking at and understanding literature. - Barbara Oakley,lÆ