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Kurt Vonnegut: Myth and Science in the Postmodern World attempts 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 study deals with how and why Kurt Vonnegut's fiction represents the changing human image resulting from Darwinism. The book's theoretical approach is based primarily on ideas from myth criticism and complemented by treatises on evolution.
List of contents
Copyright Acknowledgments - Acknowledgments - Introduction - Chapter One: Darwinism, Social Darwinism, and Mythology - Mythology and Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection in Galápagos - The Principles of an Evolutionary Mythology in Galápagos - The Sirens of Titan: Darwin, Einstein, and the Cosmological Connection - Sirens of Titan: Quantum Mechanics, Einstein, and the In-Complete Story - Slaughterhouse-Five: Einstein, Natural Selection and the Unified Story - Nazi Mythology and Totalitarian Minds in Mother Night - Adapting to the Evolutionary Mythology in Mother Night - The Myth of the Two Monsters in Breakfast of Champions - Evolutionary Mythology in the Writings of Kurt Vonnegut.
About the author
Gilbert McInnis earned his Ph.D in English literature at Université Laval in 2007. He has contributed to Bloom¿s Modern Critical Views: Kurt Vonnegut¿New Edition (2008) and contributed to Kurt Vonnegut: Critical Insights (Ed. Robert T. Tally Jr., 2013). He is currently serving as Assistant Professor on the Tataskweyak Cree Nation in Manitoba, Canada.
Summary
The book attempts to understand, in Vonnegut's novels, how Darwin's theory of evolution functions as a cosmogonic myth.
