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 | The Story of Evolution and the Evolution of Stories: |
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| Syllabus | We will experiment, in this course, with two interrelated and reciprocal inquiries: whether the biological concept of evolution is a useful one in understanding the phenomena of literature (in particular: the generation of new stories), and whether literature contributes to a deeper understanding of evolution. We will begin with a biology text which explains and explores evolution, then pause to consider a philosophical reflection on the meaning of the concept in a more general context, before turning to one literary story which grew out of another. We will ask repeatedly: Where do stories come from? Why do new ones emerge? What causes them to change? Why do (must?) some of them disappear? We will consider the parallels between diversity of stories and diversity of living organisms, and think about what new insights into evolution emerge from such considerations. |
Herman Melville. Moby-Dick or, The Whale. 1851; rpt. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001.
Making Sense of Diversity: A Conversation at Bryn Mawr College
Mars Exploration Rover Mission
European Space Agency: Mars Express
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The images on these pages are reproduced with permission of Rieko Nakamura and Toshihiro Anzai; you can see a complete display of their work at http://www.renga.com which also explains that "Renga, or Linked Image, is a new methodology of image creation in the digital era. It was given birth at the intersection of art, telecommunication network and multimedia. Renga artists share and exchange computer graphics art works on telecommunication network. An image will turn into a new piece by going through modification and transformation applied by a different artist, thus creating a series of growing imagery."
