Editor's Summary
26 January 2006
Austen maestro
Pride and Prejudice was published 46 years before On the Origin of the Species. But that doesn't stop Literary Darwinists hailing it as a prime example of their thesis in action. Darwin's literary disciples argue that this and other great works are best understood if the underlying biology of human nature is fully explored. But, we ask, isn't there more to Lizzie and Darcy than their reproductive success?
News Feature: Literary darwinism: Textual selection
Can reading the classics through Charles Darwin's spectacles reawaken literary study? John Whitfield reports.
doi:10.1038/439388a