Abstract

The paper adumbrates Joseph Carroll’s evolutionist literary theory positioning it against the developments in literary studies and humanities after postmodernism. The author discusses the ambivalence present in Carroll’s neo-darwinian project, its possible power to revert the decline of literary studies through a return to tangibility and certainty after the dominance of postmodern speculative theories, but also its reductionist and anti-axiological- stance being a peril to the advancement of literary studies. The paper invites further discussion on the prospects of trans-disciplinary alliance between humanities and biological sciences in relation to the aesthetic specificity of literature.