Evocriticism: Biology, Culture, and Literature

Abstract

Darwinian approaches to literature regard literature as a “biological adaptation”. This article explores Brian Boyd’s “evocriticism”, his evocritical method interpreting literary texts, and Boyd’s claims for a new, evolutionary literary theory. Evocriticism focuses on literature as a cognitive play with patterns and makes possible a direct connection between literature and play, from which Boyd then derives his “evolutionistic” functions of literature. A critical analysis of Boyd’s evocriticism shows that it cannot be understood as a break with the non-reductionist notion of methodological pluralism, even though it contradicts certain theoretical assumptions; for example, the notion of the end of “grand narratives” or the “death of the author”. Especially the analysis of the evocritical interpretative method shows that the theory of evolution can offer meaningful insights into the understanding of literature, its production, and its reception, but it cannot explain all aspects of literary texts. Therefore it also relies on the use of various theoretical methods, or methodological pluralism.