Barash, David P. & Nanelle R. Barash. Madame Bovary's Ovaries: A Darwinian Look at Literature.(Brief Article)(Book Review)

Barash, David P. & Nanelle R. Barash. Madame Bovary's Ovaries: A Darwinian Look at Literature. Delacorte. May 2005. c.272p, index. ISBN 0-385-33801-5. $24. LIT

Barash (psychology, Univ. of Washington) and his daughter, Nanelle, a literature and biology student at Swarthmore College, argue that, as fiction is a product of human imagination, its characters adhere to the same evolutionary biological instincts that have been demonstrated to exist in humans and other animals. Each chapter seeks to corroborate this thesis, exploring, for example, how Othello is driven by his male tendency toward competitive sexual rivalry with other males. …