My study investigates Edith Wharton's engagement with Darwin's evolutionary theory in "The House of Mirth" (1905), "The Custom of the Country" (1913), and "The Age of Innocence" (1920). The value of juxtaposing Wharton's narratives with her scientific knowledge has been recognized by critics since the 1950's. Yet, the few existing discussions of Darwinian allegory that examine these novels do not adequately describe the political dimension of Wharton's fictional sociobiology. My investigation addresses this insufficiency in the criticism. Examining Wharton's fiction in relation to her autobiographical writings, letters, and literary criticism, I demonstrate that her major novels link those laws governing gradual change in the natural world—described by Darwin, and theorists such as Herbert Spencer—with the ideological shifts affecting privileged social groupings. The introductory chapter outlines the critical response to Wharton's sociobiology, and examines specific scientific texts that the author refers to in her extra-literary writing. In chapter two I examine "The House of Mirth's" portrayal of cultural practices that lead to the elimination of unfit individuals such as Lily Bart, and show how Wharton critiques the position that natural selection and other laws theorized in The Origin of Species should apply within human society. The following chapter, on "The Custom of the Country", demonstrates Wharton's interest in representing the effects on existing leisure-class cultural practices of the newly-moneyed socioeconomic elite, whose rise Wharton attributes to social evolution. The novel also describes, I show, an inadequate leisure-class ethics that fails to confront the new elite's biological justification for expansion and dominance. Chapter four investigates "The Age of Innocence", in which Wharton takes aim at leisure-class morality by depicting it as a "negation" ( AI 212) of culturally obscured biological instinct, and by representing the sacrifice of individuals to a "collective interest" ( AI 111) that is portrayed as frivolous. In the concluding chapter, I summarize the ways I have extended existing Wharton scholarship, and describe potential pathways for future research. One key conclusion of my dissertation is that Wharton associates ideological change with natural selection, and sexual selection, in order to articulate the challenges to achieving social equality posed by "primitive" (CC 470) and "instinctive" (CC 355) energies.

My study investigates Edith Wharton's engagement with Darwin's evolutionary theory in "The House of Mirth" (1905), "The Custom of the Country" (1913), and "The Age of Innocence" (1920). The value of juxtaposing Wharton's narratives with her scientific knowledge has been recognized by critics since the 1950's. Yet, the few existing discussions of Darwinian allegory that examine these novels do not adequately describe the political dimension of Wharton's fictional sociobiology. My investigation addresses this insufficiency in the criticism. Examining Wharton's fiction in relation to her autobiographical writings, letters, and literary criticism, I demonstrate that her major novels link those laws governing gradual change in the natural world—described by Darwin, and theorists such as Herbert Spencer—with the ideological shifts affecting privileged social groupings. The introductory chapter outlines the critical response to Wharton's sociobiology, and examines specific scientific texts that the author refers to in her extra-literary writing. In chapter two I examine "The House of Mirth's" portrayal of cultural practices that lead to the elimination of unfit individuals such as Lily Bart, and show how Wharton critiques the position that natural selection and other laws theorized in The Origin of Species should apply within human society. The following chapter, on "The Custom of the Country", demonstrates Wharton's interest in representing the effects on existing leisure-class cultural practices of the newly-moneyed socioeconomic elite, whose rise Wharton attributes to social evolution. The novel also describes, I show, an inadequate leisure-class ethics that fails to confront the new elite's biological justification for expansion and dominance. Chapter four investigates "The Age of Innocence", in which Wharton takes aim at leisure-class morality by depicting it as a "negation" ( AI 212) of culturally obscured biological instinct, and by representing the sacrifice of individuals to a "collective interest" ( AI 111) that is portrayed as frivolous. In the concluding chapter, I summarize the ways I have extended existing Wharton scholarship, and describe potential pathways for future research. One key conclusion of my dissertation is that Wharton associates ideological change with natural selection, and sexual selection, in order to articulate the challenges to achieving social equality posed by "primitive" (CC 470) and "instinctive" (CC 355) energies. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

PROBLEMS INVESTIGATED:This thesis responds to a significant gap in modern Greek literary scholarship in relation to the Darwinian, post-Darwinian and other evolutionary theories and ideas in the works of Greek writers. My preliminary investigations show that there have been Greek writers who were influenced by Darwinian ideas. However, histories of modern Greek literature do not include Darwinism as a distinct influence in its own right, instead it only appears within the Greek naturalist school of the late 19th century; even when they discuss naturalist works influenced by evolutionary thought. This thesis primarily examines the Darwinian and post- Darwinian influence in select writings of Grigorios Xenopoulos in the period from 1900 to at least 1930. In doing so it attempts to reassess the status of these works and to argue for their importance in the context of other Greek and non-Greek literature. PROCEDURES FOLLOWED: This thesis takes on a cross-disciplinary approach drawing on the histories of science and of literature, on the biological sciences and other sciences. So as to establish a context for Xenopoulos' work, I discuss the themes and issues associated with evolutionary ideas and draw on Greek and non-Greek writers from the 19th century first wave of Darwinism to the first decades of the twentieth century. GENERAL RESULTS: I am able to document that while there appears to have been a general delay in the transmission of Darwinian ideas to Greek creative writers, certain themes in their writings arise, responding to Darwinism, which are common to those of non-Greek writers. While there are differences in the treatments of these themes amongst writers, there are a number of main issues which arise from them which include class, gender and race, and are shown to be important in Greek society at the time. In addition, the direct implications of Darwin's theory of evolution are debated in Greece by science and religion, and are discussed in the writings of Xenopoulos and his peers. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS: My examination of responses to Darwinism by Xenopoulos in the context of other Greek and non-Greek writers aims, firstly, to emphasise the importance of Xenopoulos and his work as a key literary influence in Greek society at the time; and secondly, to play a part in bringing modern Greek literature into the mainstream of European culture. The responses to Darwinism in literature, fiction and non-fiction, past and present, encompass a fascinating and controversial field of investigation which, in view of our scientific knowledge today, continues to address issues such as the nature-nurture debate, creationism versus evolution and man's place in nature. Hence it is important that literary responses to the Darwinism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Greece be documented as a foundation for present literary responses.

PROBLEMS INVESTIGATED:This thesis responds to a significant gap in modern Greek literary scholarship in relation to the Darwinian, post-Darwinian and other evolutionary theories and ideas in the works of Greek writers. My preliminary investigations show that there have been Greek writers who were influenced by Darwinian ideas. However, histories of modern Greek literature do not include Darwinism as a distinct influence in its own right, instead it only appears within the Greek naturalist school of the late 19th century; even when they discuss naturalist works influenced by evolutionary thought. This thesis primarily examines the Darwinian and post- Darwinian influence in select writings of Grigorios Xenopoulos in the period from 1900 to at least 1930. In doing so it attempts to reassess the status of these works and to argue for their importance in the context of other Greek and non-Greek literature. PROCEDURES FOLLOWED: This thesis takes on a cross-disciplinary approach drawing on the histories of science and of literature, on the biological sciences and other sciences. So as to establish a context for Xenopoulos' work, I discuss the themes and issues associated with evolutionary ideas and draw on Greek and non-Greek writers from the 19th century first wave of Darwinism to the first decades of the twentieth century. GENERAL RESULTS: I am able to document that while there appears to have been a general delay in the transmission of Darwinian ideas to Greek creative writers, certain themes in their writings arise, responding to Darwinism, which are common to those of non-Greek writers. While there are differences in the treatments of these themes amongst writers, there are a number of main issues which arise from them which include class, gender and race, and are shown to be important in Greek society at the time. In addition, the direct implications of Darwin's theory of evolution are debated in Greece by science and religion, and are discussed in the writings of Xenopoulos and his peers. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS: My examination of responses to Darwinism by Xenopoulos in the context of other Greek and non-Greek writers aims, firstly, to emphasise the importance of Xenopoulos and his work as a key literary influence in Greek society at the time; and secondly, to play a part in bringing modern Greek literature into the mainstream of European culture. The responses to Darwinism in literature, fiction and non-fiction, past and present, encompass a fascinating and controversial field of investigation which, in view of our scientific knowledge today, continues to address issues such as the nature-nurture debate, creationism versus evolution and man's place in nature. Hence it is important that literary responses to the Darwinism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Greece be documented as a foundation for present literary responses.

Argues that, without the publication of Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species," Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula" and Oscar Wilde's novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" would not have been written with their distinct style and themes, as evolution clashes with degeneration and female power (and the sexuality derived from that power) clashes with the new science. Stoker and Wilde combine the science of the late 19th century with the characters of their imaginations. Natural and sexual selection plays a part in these characters' core development. The mixture of sexuality, science and power in these two novels all combine to formulate what is known as Victorian sexology.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2005. / Principal faculty advisor: J.A. Leo Lemay, Dept. of English. Includes bibliographical references.