The trickster brain : neuroscience, evolution, and narrative / David Williams.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Until recently, scientific and literary cultures have existed side-by-side but most often in parallel universes, without connection. This book addresses the premise that humans are a biological species stemming from the long process of evolution, and that we do exhibit a universal human nature, given to us through our genes. From this perspective, literature is shown to be a product of our biological selves. By exploring central ideas in neuroscience, evolutionary biology, linguistics, music, philosophy, ethics, religion, and history, the author shows that it is the circuitry of the brain's hard-wired dispositions that continually create similar tales around the world: "archetypal" stories reflecting ancient tensions that arose from our evolutionary past and the very construction of our brains. The book asserts that to truly understand literature, one must look at the biological creature creating it. By using the lens of science to examine literature, we can see how stories reveal universal aspects of the biological mind. The Trickster character is particularly instructive as an archetypal character who embodies a raft of human traits and concerns, for Trickster is often god, devil, musical, sexual, silver tongued, animal, and human at once, treading upon the moral dictates of culture. In this text the author brings together science and the humanities, demonstrating a critical way of approaching literature that incorporates scientific thought.

Searching for trickster -- The silver-tongued devil -- The tricksterish brain -- Evolution -- The brain of sex -- The brain of love and war -- The brain of song -- Ethics -- Storytelling and the theory of mind -- The brain of God -- The trickster of mythology -- A swath of trickster stories from oral literature -- Female tricksters -- Literary filters -- Music and the trickster -- A swath of other trickster stories from around the world -- The trickster personified -- Blues and courting tricksters -- Trickster in written literature -- Trickster was wandering.