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Richard van Oort , The
End of Literature: Essays in Anthropological Aesthetics
The End of Literature: Essays
in Anthropological Aesthetics
seeks to answer the question: What knowledge does the
humanist possess that can compete with the explanatory power
of evolutionary theory? Drawing on Eric Gans’s
groundbreaking idea of language as the deferral of violence,
Richard van Oort situates this "originary hypothesis" in the
context of recent studies in primatology, developmental
psychology, evolutionary anthropology, and cognitive
science. The point of this comparison is not to reduce the
humanities to the sciences, but to delimit a minimal point
of departure for humanistic inquiry. Having established this
starting point, van Oort compares the premises of the
originary hypothesis to the unavowed starting points of
recent cultural and literary criticism. He shows that the
theory is not incompatible with the best insights of either
Clifford Geertz or Stephen Greenblatt. The hypothesis is
further fleshed out in original readings of Shakespeare,
tragedy, and romanticism.
In an age dominated by
scientific explanations of our physical and social reality,
The End of
Literature will be
compelling reading for anyone serious about defending the
intellectual foundations of the humanities.
Contents
Introduction
Acknowledgements
Part I. The Science of Human Origin
1. Cognitive Science and the Problem of Representation
2. Imitation and Human Ontogeny: Michael Tomasello and the
Scene of Joint Attention
Part II. The End of Literature
3. The Critic as Ethnographer
4. The Culture of Criticism
Part III. Two Originary Analyses
5. Shakespeare and the Idea of the Modern
6. A Race of Devils: Frankenstein, Romanticism, and the
Tragedy of Human Origin
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Reviews
“This remarkable book brings together anthropology,
cognitive science, and literary study in an impressively
learned and original way. Richard van Oort writes with
passion and clarity about difficult issues. He shows
convincingly that extending René Girard’s and Eric Gans’s
assumption of an ‘originary’ moment of mimetic socialization
for mankind can have productive and innovative results when
transferred into literature, literary study, and literary
theory as distinctively human institutions.”
— J. Hillis Miller, UCI Distinguished Research Professor
Departments of Comparative Literature and English,
University of California, Irvine
“When aliens
come to study human culture on our planet, they could do
worse than begin with
The End of Literature. In the
meantime, these resolutely sane essays should hearten all
those, from whatever academic habitat, who still trust in
the possibility of a single, non-mystical conversation of
science, religion and the humanities.”
— Mark Vessey, Professor and Canada Research Chair in
Literature /
Christianity and Culture, University of British Columbia
“Richard van Oort’s The End of Literature brings together
six provocative studies by a pioneer of generative
anthropology. These essays, written in a lucid and engaging
style, display a scope and mastery that matches the
ambitions of the theory. The first two shed a fascinating
light on the interface between generative anthropology and
cognitive science; the second two point up the
superficiality of ‘anthropological’ criticism as it is
usually carried out. The final pair of ‘originary analyses’
offer powerfully argued alternatives to new and old
historical readings of two classic texts, Hamlet and
Frankenstein.”
— Eric Gans, Department of French & Francophone Studies,
UCLA
“The essays in
this volume offer an informative and provocative
introduction to the literary and generative anthropology
pioneered by Eric Gans and René Girard. Richard van Oort
situates their work not only in current studies in this
field (e.g., by Terrence Deacon and Mark Turner) but also
more broadly within recent cultural and literary theory
(Clifford Geertz, Wolfgang Iser, Gérard Genette, Jacques
Derrida). Further, van Oort provides two illuminating
interpretive essays (on Shakespeare and on Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein) to illustrate Anthropological Aesthetics.”
— Alexander Gelley, Professor of Comparative Literature,
University of California, Irvine
The Author
Richard van Oort is Assistant Professor of English at the
University of Victoria
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