Interdisciplinary Essays on Darwinism in Hispanic Literature and Film: The Intersection of Science and the Humanities

This study examines the influence of the theories of Charles Darwin in literature and film produced by Hispanics in Spain, Latin America, and the United States. The subject matter of the analyses in this work ranges from works by Spanish masters such as Miguel de Cervantes and Federico Garcia Lorca, to the nineteenth-century Brazilian author Aluisio Azevedo, and the twenty-first-century Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. In addition to treatments of specific works, there are general theoretical overviews by such well-known scholars as Joseph Carroll and David Barash, together with a concluding study detailing the current understanding of Darwin by both Anglo and Hispanic college students in the United States. Overall, this collection of essays shows how the insights of Darwin's theories can serve to illuminate Hispanic culture and cultural production in new and even groundbreaking ways.