“As Saunders makes clear at the outset, her aim is to offer ‘an accessible introduction to Darwinian literary critical methodology in tandem with new insights into acknowledged classics’ (x). This is precisely what she does with admirable clarity and grace. To assist readers not familiar with Darwinian methodology, Saunders provides a succinct glossary of essential terms that matches up nicely with the general approach she spells out in her brief, well-focused introduction. … Teachers seeking to shake up predictable discussions of classic works will find Saunders’s interpretations immensely useful and entertaining. This is not to suggest that Saunders is not a serious scholar whose work contributes to literary scholarship. Quite the contrary, her essays are carefully researched, articulate additions to American literary naturalism that offer important insights into the evolutionary forces that inform literary texts. … Readers will find American Classics: Evolutionary Perspectives every bit as thought provoking as it is delightful.” —Paul Crumbley, Utah State University, Studies in American Naturalism Vol. 13, No. 2

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: The Story of a Successful Social Animal
2. Nepotism in Hawthorne’s “My Kinsman, Major Molineux”
3. Biophilia in Thoreau’s Walden
4. Bateman’s Principle in “Song of Myself”: Whitman Celebrates Male Ardency
5. Maladaptive Behavior and Auctorial Design: Huck Finn’s Pap
6. Hell’s Fury: Female Mate-Retention Strategies in Wharton’s “Pomegranate Seed
and Ethan Frome
7. Male Reproductive Strategies in Sherwood Anderson’s “The Untold Lie”
8. The Great Gatsby: An Unusual Case of Mate-Poaching
9. Female Sexual Strategies in the Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay
10. Philosophy and Fitness: Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” and The Sun
Also Rises
11. Paternal Confidence in Zora Neale Hurston’s “The Gilded Six-Bits”
12. The Role of the Arts in Male Courtship Display: Billy Collins’s “Serenade”
Glossary
Bibliography
Index