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9781933146997 Academic Inspection Copy

Evolutionary Mythology in the Writings of Kurt Vonnegut

Charles Darwin's Theory and Kurt Vonnegut's Portrayal of American Life and Culture
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Historically, an investigation into the impact of science and technology on society is nothing new to the area of literature; in fact it has been done for centuries. However, this book is relevant in its attempt to understand, in Vonnegut's novels, how Darwin's theory of evolution functions as a cosmogonic myth that is widely accepted in order to explain why the world is as it is and why things happen as they do, to provide a rationale for social customs and observances, and to establish the sanctions for the rules by which Vonnegut's characters conduct their lives. Moreover, this book deals with how and why Kurt Vonnegut's fiction represents the changing human image resulting from Darwinism. By Darwinism, I mean Darwin's theory of evolution, applied to a social context and therefore applicable to human beings. My theoretical approach will be based primarily on ideas from myth criticism and complemented by treatises on evolution.
Gilbert McInnis has earned his Ph.D in English Literature at Universite Laval. He recently published a monograph, Evolutionary Mythology in the Writings of Kurt Vonnegut (2011). He is the founder of InExile Publications, which has re-published Paul Goodman's Moral Ambiguity of America, a debut work by the American poet Erik Wackernagel's She Bang Slam and Sir Leonard Woolley's Ur of Chaldees. He taught English literature at Universite Laval, Universite Chicoutimi and Bishop's University in Quebec, at Grenfell College in Newfoundland, and at Acadia University in Nova Scotia.
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