I've posted a new paper to the web, title above, links and preface below:
Academia.edu: https://www.academia.edu/115553925/_NATURALIST_criticism_NOT_cognitive_NOT_Darwinian_A_Quasi_Manifesto
SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4742022
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378549603_NATURALIST_criticism_NOT_cognitive_NOT_Darwinian_A_Quasi-Manifesto
Prefatory Note: What’s in a Name?
This was originally published in The Valve, now defunct, on March 31, 2010. It is an informal manifesto in a quasi-conversational style – pseudo-Socratic? – for my work in literary criticism. Acknowledging that literary criticism has long become a game in which one must have a label for one’s approach, I chose the term “naturalist.” After acknowledging that the term is problematic in a humanities context. I go on to explain why I’ve chosen it to designate my work and, in particular, to differentiate it from “cognitive” criticism and “literary Darwinism,” with which it has superficial affinities.
I could link a lot more into this piece now, but I won't. It's a decent indicator of the directions I’ve been pursuing.
