Books

This
book argues that the Homeric epics can be used in concert with other sources to
reconstruct a reasonably accurate portrait of Aegean life at the end of the
Greek Dark Age; that patterns of conflict in Homeric society are congruent with
patterns widely encountered in world ethnography; that this conflict can be
understood as a product of competition, within and between groups, for scarce
resources that convert to reproductive advantage; that these pressures were
greatly intensified by shortages of young women brought about by de facto
polygyny and, possibly, excess mortality of juvenile females; that surpluses of
unmated young males resulted in viciously circular patterns of violence; that
these unremitting cycles help to explain the tragic elements of the Homeric
worldview and the capricious and cruel characterizations of the gods and
fate.
Cambridge University Press, 2008 (AMAZON); Croatian Translation, Kigen Publishing, 2010.
“Gottschall's
study of Homer is prudent, patient, thoroughly researched and very smart.” William
Deresiewicz, The Nation (20 May 2009)
“Gottschall
escorts us to the rich but sparsely inhabited borderland between anthropology,
biology, and literary analysis, where he has found gold. The Rape of Troy is an
original and important contribution to all three of these fields, and a very
good read in addition.”
Edward
O. Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator in
Entomology at
“The Rape of Troy
is, above all, a brilliant little book – so brilliant that I wish it were less
little. It crackles with intellectual
vigor, academic rigor, and the prospect of triggering a revolution in research
at the intersection of anthropology, biology, and literature…..[Gottschall’s]
account of “Homeric tragedy” rises to a level of sanguinary poetry that might
make Cormac McCarthy envious.”
David Barash,
“There is no way
to get bored with Gottschall. He has written a small masterpiece of
evolutionary-literary analysis. Only someone with such a thorough knowledge of
Homer and Homeric scholarship as he has could do this. This ability to marry
disciplines with confidence and authority is rare and should be cherished….For
a Homeric moment let us be free to wonder and applaud.”
Robin Fox,
"This
is a fine book in a vigorous style with a delightfully fresh take on an old
story. The best book on Homer I’ve read in years."
Barry
Powell, Department of Classics, University of Wisconsin
Hans van Wees, University College London, Author of Status Warriors and Greek
Warfare: myths and realities.
“Though serious in
its purpose of advancing knowledge, The Rape of
Joseph Carroll, University of Missouri, Style, forthcoming
"Stimulating."
Journal of Hellenic Studies,
Elizabeth Minchin
"Jonathan Gottschall has conquered the oldest
and craggiest peak of Western literature, The Iliad, by a new face. He stakes
out the Darwin route to Homer so directly and clearly that he makes the climb
inviting and inspiring even to curious newcomers without high-altitude
evolutionary training. And the vista he opens up offers us a chance to look in
multiple directions: at Homer, at literary evolutionism and its possibilities,
and at Gottschall’s role in exploring this new route to discovery."
Brian Boyd, Philosophy and Literature.
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Literary studies is at a "tipping
point." There is broad agreement that the discipline is in
"crisis"--that its aimless, that its intellectual energy is spent,
that all of the trends are bad, and that fundamental change will be required to
set things right. But there is little agreement on what those changes
should be, and no one can predict which way things will ultimately tip. Literature,
Science, and a New Humanities represents a bold new response to the
"crisis" in academic literary studies. It presents a sweeping
critique of dominant literary paradigms, and sketches outlines of a new
paradigm based upon scientific foundations. This book is a call for
upheaval; for new theory, method, and ethos; for paradigm shift
Palgrave
Macmillan, October 2008 (AMAZON)
“This
is an exhilarating book – a call for an intellectual revolution made with
brio, unstinting reason, and an exciting proof of concept.”
Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor, Harvard University, and
author of The Language Instinct, The Blank Slate, and The Stuff of Thought.
“Jonathan Gottschall is a major star in the
emerging field of literary darwinism. Literature,
Science, and a New Humanities makes a
brilliant and passionate case that literary studies needs to adopt the research
methods of the natural and social sciences in order to combat the intellectual
sclerosis that has set in as theory’s grip has weakened. The book is
beautifully written, highly intelligent, and morally bracing: it is at
once a strong challenge, a how-to manual, a manifesto, and a clarion call to
change.”
Blakey Vermeule, Associate Professor of English,
"Literature, Science, and the New Humanities makes an
important contribution to debates about scientifically informed literary
studies. " Nancy
Easterlin, Philosophy and Literature.
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A collection of articles, co-edited with the evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson, which seeks to establish a branch of literary study informed by recent advances in the evolutionary human sciences. With contributions from eminences like E. O. Wilson, Frederick Crews, the novelist Ian McEwan, and other leading figures in evolutionary biology and literary studies.
Northwestern
University Press, 2005 (Amazon)
“The first scholarly anthology dedicated to Literary
Darwinism … The Literary Animal spans
centuries and individual cultures with bravura, if not bravado.” D. T. Max, The New York Times Magazine
“The book provides the exhilarating sense of
witnessing something new taking shape on the intellectual horizon, a
‘proto-paradigm’ that, although grounded, is not yet set in stone, with big
questions still being debated … The
Literary Animal provides a fine example of the riches that await us as
the arts and sciences stop competing and start communicating.” Rebecca
Goldstein, Nature
The Literary Animal is a manifesto for forging a connection [between evolution and literary
studies], and a collection of proofs of concept. The essays, all original, are
pleasantly well-written for an academic collection; the writing is consistently
clear, and often stylish. The essays present new ideas and findings—from
biology, literary analysis, history, and quantitative surveys, among other
fields—that will enlighten anyone interested in literature or the human
animal….I found The Literary Animal to be an exciting book. It isn’t often that one can be present at
the genesis of a new field of knowledge, especially one with the promise of
connecting two realms—the exploration of human nature by science and by
art—that clearly have so much to learn from each other.
Steven
Pinker, Philosophy and Literature
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Evolution, Literature, and Film: A Reader

For some time now luminaries in literary studies from Terry
Eagleton to Stanley Fish and Louis Menand have lamented the dire state of the
field--the lack of new ideas, the decline in student numbers, the steady loss
of disciplinary prestige. For some time now, too, an evolutionary perspective
on literature has offered the most fundamental challenge to the prevailing but
self-confessedly exhausted paradigm of poststructuralist Theory. Evolutionary Approaches to Literature and
Film gathers together the best writing by the best minds in the field so
that this new approach can be widely taught as an alternative to
poststructuralist Theory. Co-edited with Brian Boyd (
(Columbia University Press, April 2010)
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Graphing Jane Austen: Human Nature in British Novels of the Nineteenth Century
A collaboration with Joseph Carroll,
(Under Review)
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Story Minds (Houghton Mifflin)
Tenative title
for a book in process on evolution, brain science, and the humanity's long,
strange, ardent love affair with story.
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Man of Pain: The True Story of Odysseus
A novel in
process that retells the story of Odysseus from the perspective of Odysseus’
son Telemachus.