Biology/English 223 College Seminar II Bryn Mawr College Spring 2005

The Story of Evolution and the Evolution of Stories:
Exploring the Significance of Diversity

Anne Dalke (English House, ext. 5308, adalke@brynmawr.edu)
Paul Grobstein (Park Science Building, ext. 5098, pgrobste@brynmawr.edu)
http://serendipstudio.org/sci_cult/evolit/s05/

"And so a strange new possibility is arising.
Compromised, indefinite, sketchy, but not entirely
obliterated: free will is making a comeback.
Biology gives you a brain. Life turns it into a mind."
Middlesex (p. 479)

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. (Thanks to Andrea Friedman for telling us about this "evolutionary" art form.)

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 an exploration of the basis for the "story" of evolution as developed by biologists, move on to a consideration of the relevance of the concept of evolution for making sense of other bodies of information and observations, and then turn to a consideration of one literary story growing out of another. We will ask repeatedly: Where do stories (scientific and literary) 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 and literature emerge from such considerations.

Required Texts: Ernst Mayr. What Evolution Is. New York: Basic, 2001. Daniel Dennett. Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995. Herculine Barbin: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-Century French Hermaphrodite. Intro. Michel Foucault. Trans. Richard McDougall. New York: Pantheon, 1980. Jeffrey Eugenides. Middlesex. New York: St. Martin's, 2002. Virginia Woolf. Orlando: A Biography. 1928; rpt. New York: Harvest.

Week One: Playing/Setting Things Up
Mon, Jan. 17 Welcome!...to Continuity and Catastrophe

By 5 p.m. on Tues, 1/18, post in the course forum your response to the conversation above and the readings below....

Wed, Jan. 19
Genesis 6-10, King James Bible

The Gilgamesh Epic, Tablet 11

William J. Broad. "Deadly and Yet Necessary, Quakes Renew the Planet." The New York Times. January 11, 2005.

John Burdett. "Meeting Death With a Cool Heart."The New York Times. January 13, 2005. A35.

Weeks Two-Four: Where Does the Story of Biological Evolution Come From? Mon, Jan. 24 Mayr. Chapters 1-4 (pp. 3-82) Wed, Jan. 26 Mayr, Chapters 1-4, continued Mon, Jan. 31 Mayr, Chapters 5-8 (pp. 83-173) Wed, Feb. 2 Mayr, Chapters 5-8, continued Mon, Feb. 7 Mayr, Chapters 9-12 (pp. 174-268) Wed, Feb. 9 Mayr, Chapters 9-12, continued

Fri, Feb.11 Paper #1 due
Write 3-4 pp. in which you think through some problem that has been raised in your mind by our discussion of biological evolution. This is not a "reaction paper" (like your forum postings), but should rather make a claim, develop a thesis, and support it with evidence which you have drawn from several new resources you have located (either in the form of written texts or on the web).

Some sample topics:

• why should evolution be taught, or not, in high school?
• perform a textual analysis of Mayr: explain the process by which he makes meaning, examining his use of language, his underlying presumptions, etc.
• write a critical evaluation of the evidence for evolution

Weeks Five-Seven: Is Evolution a Useful Story Beyond Biology? Mon, Feb. 14 Dennett, Part I: Starting in the Middle (pp. 17-145) Wed, Feb. 16 Dennett, Part I, continued Mon, Feb. 21 Dennett, Chapters 12-14 (pp. 335-427) Wed, Feb. 23 Dennett, Chapters 12-14, continued Mon, Feb. 28 Dennett, Chapters 15-18 (pp. 428-521) Wed, Mar. 2 Dennett, Chapters 15-18, continued Fri, Mar. 4 Paper #2 due 3-4 pp. on some aspect of the story of evolution beyond the context of biology which is of particular interest or use to you. Submit a hard copy and post a copy of the paper in a course web forum (see Paper Preparation and Submission). SPRING BREAK

Weeks Eight-Thirteen: How and why do Literary Stories Evolve? Mon, Mar. 14 Middlesex Wed, Mar. 16 " Mon, Mar. 21 " Wed, Mar. 23 " Mon, Mar. 28 Herculine Barbin Wed, Mar. 30 " Mon, Apr. 4 " Wed, Apr. 6 " Mon, Apr. 11 Orlando Wed, Apr. 13 " Fri, Apr. 15 Paper #3 due: 3-4 pp. on some aspect of the evolution of literary stories that particularly interests--or is useful--to you. Submit a hard copy and post a copy of the paper in a course web forum (see Paper Preparation and Submission). Mon, Apr. 18 Orlando Wed, Apr. 20 "

Week Fourteen (Mon, Apr. 25 and Wed, Apr. 27) Bringing it all together--telling each other new stories Spontaneously formed emergent groups of four or so students each should prepare ten-fifteen minute presentations reflecting on some aspect of the course readings. Presentations should encourage, in a provocative and entertaining way, further story development on the part of others in the class. 5 p.m. Saturday, May 7 (seniors); 12:30 Friday, May 13 (all others) Paper #4 and Portfolio Due. Paper #4: 10-12 pp. in which you make use of the biological, philosophical and literary stories of the course to create a new, interesting, useful story of your own--one that might well (in consultation with your instructor) have a creative dimension. Instructions for Preparing Your Portfolio

Course Requirements: Regular Class Attendance and Participation in Discussion Weekly paragraph-long web postings 4 papers (also to be made publicly available on the web) 3 writing conferences with your instructor Final Portfolio Grading: 1/6: participation in class and on-line conversations 1/6 each: papers # 1, 2, 3 1/3: final paper

In this class, we'll be exploring how diversity is fundamental to all levels of organization, in both biological and cultural systems. It will be clear, from that exploration, why we think a single grade will not adequately reflect your various, distinctive efforts in the class; nor do we think it will function as an adequate index to how you may perform in other contexts. We hope you'll regard this score as only one measure of your accomplishments, and take into account your own sense of how what you achieve here relates to your own goals. We're of course happy to discuss all these matters with you in conference.

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