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The Artistic Animal

By Caleb Crain, originally published in Lingua Franca, October = 2001.=20
Is creativity in our genes? The self-made scholar Ellen Dissanayake = thinks so,=20 but it has taken her a lifetime of experience outside the academy to = find out=20 why.

Suppose there were a person who saw, = before almost=20 anyone else, that the most important concept in modern biology could be = applied=20 to the arts. Suppose, however, that this person studied biology only as = an=20 undergraduate, never took a class in anthropology, and never received a = Ph.D.=20 Suppose, in fact, that she were a homemaker for a dozen years and then = spent=20 fifteen years in the Third World, where it was difficult for her to gain = access=20 to the research libraries and social networks that most professors take = for=20 granted. Nevertheless, over the past two decades=E2=80=94with no more = institutional=20 support than a few years of adjunct teaching, several grants, and a = couple of=20 visiting professorships=E2=80=94she has managed to publish three books = setting forth her=20 ideas. And today a new field of study has sprung up where she pioneered. = Suppose, in addition, that some people think a scholarly framework based = on her=20 insights will displace much of current aesthetic theory=E2=80=94that = future generations=20 will understand literature and the arts as she does, thereby reconciling = the=20 humanities to the science of human nature.=20

From the shape of her career alone, you might think this is the = description=20 of an intellectual hero. Or you might be tempted to dismiss her as an = amateur.=20 After all, you've probably never heard of Ellen Dissanayake.

The best-known scholars of evolution and human behavior, however, = speak of=20 Dissanayake with admiration and respect. "She is a true pioneer," says = Harvard=20 University's Edward O. Wilson, one of the founders of sociobiology, who = cited=20 her in his 1998 book, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. MIT's = Steven=20 Pinker, author of How the Mind Works, calls her "ahead of her = time." The=20 University of New Mexico's Geoffrey Miller, author of The Mating = Mind,=20 believes that her books were "the first to take a serious Darwinian look = at art=20 and human ornamentation as genuine adaptations"=E2=80=94the first since = Charles Darwin,=20 at any rate.

"Most people are too chicken to do what she's doing," says Leda = Cosmides, a=20 psychology professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. = "Ellen is=20 one of the bravest people I know, because she was willing to go after an = interesting question early on, before the more timid would touch it." =

Dissanayake posed that question boldly in her first book: "Since all = human=20 societies, past and present, so far as we know, make and respond to art, = it must=20 contribute something essential to human life. But what?" A biologist, = she=20 proposed, would consider art a set of behaviors rather than a class of = objects.=20 Dissanayake was more interested in sculpting than in marble statues and = even=20 more intrigued by dynamic arts like singing and dancing. She reasoned = that if=20 natural selection had shaped these behaviors=E2=80=94as it had shaped = every other=20 functional aspect of human design=E2=80=94then the behaviors must result = from=20 predispositions that gave hominids an advantage over their competitors = as they=20 evolved. What was that advantage? Dissanayake has looked for it in = children's=20 play, premodern ritual, and mother-infant attachment. There is no = consensus=20 among evolutionary psychologists that she has discovered the definitive = answer.=20 But there is a widespread belief that she has found the right way to ask = the=20 question.

However fierce Dissanayake may be as a thinker, she = is gentle=20 in person. "She has a real talent for not getting people mad," says = Michelle=20 Scalise Sugiyama, an assistant professor at the University of Oregon, = "for not=20 triggering a hostile reaction to a biological approach to the function = of art."=20 Dissanayake's voice is mild, as if she were saying good-bye to you = before she=20 was quite ready to. Often she gives her declarative sentences the = intonation of=20 questions. She is a grandmother, and she offers to share with a reporter = the=20 lentil soup she has cooked for lunch.

In the living room of her Seattle apartment, an upright piano has = pride of=20 place. (Her office is tucked into a converted closet, where a window = originally=20 designed to air clothes gives light.) Every corner of the apartment = holds art,=20 ranging from premodern to postmodern. A wood carving of a female = fertility=20 figure from a yam ceremony in Papua New Guinea peers over the shoulder = of a=20 visitor who sits on the couch. Hanging on a wall is a sculpture given to = her by=20 the Alaska-based artist Don Mohr, who constructed it from an old = Dictaphone by=20 replacing one side of the exterior with Plexiglas and the innards with a = paperback of Dissanayake's first book. When plugged in, wheels inside = whir=20 smoothly.

Ellen Dissanayake, n=C3=A9e Franzen, was born in Illinois and raised = in Walla=20 Walla, Washington, where her father was an engineer and her mother a = homemaker.=20 "We had a neighbor with a piano, and I was one of those little girls who = could=20 pick out stuff by ear," she says. She took lessons, and when she set off = for=20 Washington State University in Pullman, she chose to major in music. In=20 college=E2=80=94and later as well=E2=80=94she found that her feelings = during a concert could be=20 startlingly intense. "I would be listening in an audience, and suddenly = I would=20 feel like I had been taken over," she recalls.

In those days, Washington State required all students to study = science.=20 Dissanayake took two courses in biology. "I found I really liked it," = she says.=20 "If I hadn't taken those classes, I don't think my life would have been = the=20 same." She graduated in 1957. She had met an aspiring biologist named = John F.=20 Eisenberg, and two weeks after her twenty-first birthday they were = married. They=20 moved to Berkeley, where Eisenberg began graduate school.

"John and I were both among the top ten students of our graduating = class,"=20 Dissanayake explains. "But no one said that I should go to graduate = school, and=20 if they had, I probably would have turned it down." She worked briefly = as a=20 secretary and then raised the couple's two children. She was, she = admits, "a=20 1950s housewife."

Informally, though, her education continued. Because her husband = studied=20 zoology, she was exposed to the principles of natural selection and = their=20 influence on animal behavior. "I had this social world of ethology," = Dissanayake=20 says. "We'd sit around and talk with the graduate students and make = these=20 links," sometimes comparing the behavior of animals and humans. She also = picked=20 up ideas while typing her husband's papers and translating articles he = wanted to=20 read.

After John earned his doctorate, the Eisenbergs = moved to=20 Vancouver. Two years later, when Eisenberg was offered a position at the = University of Maryland, they moved to the East Coast. Not long after, = the=20 Smithsonian Institution named Eisenberg director of research at the = National=20 Zoo. He brought animals home from his new job: At various times, a = pangolin, a=20 cavy, hedgehogs, pocket mice, desert rats, and a genet lived in their = house.=20 "City boy," she teases when a reporter asks what a cavy is. "It's a = rodent that=20 looks like a little deer, with these big brown eyes." She bottle-fed it. = "Living=20 with John," she says, "I really came to realize that humans are animals = in a way=20 that I would not have otherwise."

With her husband's encouragement, she began work toward a master's = degree in=20 art history at the University of Maryland. Then, in June 1968, the = Smithsonian=20 sent Eisenberg to Sri Lanka on a project that included a census of the = island's=20 wild elephants. The family settled for a year in Kandy, one of Sri = Lanka's=20 ancient cities. While John was in the jungle, Ellen homeschooled the = children.=20 She also rented a piano. "I hadn't played for years," she recalls. "I'd = stopped=20 when we left Berkeley." She began playing music with a group of = expatriates and=20 Sri Lankans, and soon she was part of their circle. "This was before = television"=20 came to Sri Lanka, she explains. "It was very much a Victorian = atmosphere." The=20 group met once a week to play music together. "These were well-educated, = broadly=20 educated people," she says. Many were doctors. One of them, S.B. = Dissanayake, a=20 professor of dentistry with an interest in public health, would become = her=20 second husband.

After finishing her master's degree in Maryland in 1970, Ellen = returned to=20 Sri Lanka. She had hoped to bring her children with her, but she was = unable to=E2=80=94a=20 circumstance she describes as "the one regret in my life, the one blot = that will=20 never be washed away." Trying to explain her decision today, she focuses = on what=20 drew her to the country. "I don't know whether you've ever talked to = anybody=20 who's been to countries where they wanted to go native," she says. "To = me it was=20 a kind of awakening to a world of nature and a premodern world."

In her second husband's home, which he had designed himself, the = windows were=20 always open. In photographs, in fact, they look less like windows than = like the=20 strategic omission of walls. Bats flew in and out. When it rained, you = could=20 hear the water hitting the giant leaves outside. A Buddhist temple stood = nearby.=20 "There was always some tree in bloom," she recalls, "with fragrance that = would=20 waft into the house." They had to boil the water they drank, they slept = under=20 mosquito netting, and they had no running hot water. Yet they had a = record=20 player, a subscription to the Times Literary Supplement, and = "bookshelves=20 with Proust and stacks of French film magazines."

Sri Lanka made Shakespeare intelligible to Dissanayake: It was a = world with=20 fools and omens. The arts saturated everyday life. People offered = flowers at the=20 temple and drew symbols on the floor before bullocks threshed the rice. = She=20 observed the rituals closely. The experiences started her on a new train = of=20 thought.

But she still had not openly embraced an intellectual career. "It was = a=20 hidden life," she says. In 1974, however, Dissanayake succeeded for the = first=20 time in publishing her work. Thanks to a favorable reader's report from = Desmond=20 Morris, author of The Naked Ape, a version of a master's seminar = paper=20 she had written about art and play appeared in a new Paris-based journal = called=20 Leonardo. Morris also invited her to contribute to a book he = hoped to=20 edit on art and biology.

"I was really, really thrilled, right?" Dissanayake says. "I wrote = back to=20 him, and I was very bold." She told Morris about her new interest in = ritual and=20 explained that to educate herself she needed access to a library with a=20 first-class anthropology collection. Without consulting her husband, she = offered=20 to work as Morris's secretary in England in exchange for access to = Oxford's=20 library. Morris put her in touch with the Rutgers University = anthropologists=20 Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox, who were then in charge of the Harry Frank=20 Guggenheim Foundation. They awarded her a six-month fellowship.

For Dissanayake, it was a dream come true. "I would go to the = Bodleian=20 Library at nine in the morning and come home at five at night," she = recalls.=20 "I'd walk there and back again and just feel joy rising in my throat. I = was so=20 happy to be able to do that, and just to do that." She took masses of=20 color-coded notes. And when she returned to Sri Lanka, she began to = write her=20 first book.

"In hindsight, it almost seems as if everything = were leading=20 up to writing the books," Dissanayake says of her life story. Indeed, = her theory=20 of the arts draws both on what she learned about natural selection and = animal=20 behavior while living with her first husband and on what she learned = about=20 ritual, the arts, and premodern cultures while living with her second. =

It's difficult to discuss her first book, What Is Art For? = (1988),=20 without reference to her other two, Homo Aestheticus: Where Art Comes = From=20 and Why (1992) and Art and Intimacy: How the Arts Began = (2000). The=20 three are not so much distinct works as snapshots of a single theory at=20 different stages of development. That theory starts with a striking set = of=20 observations.

First, the arts appear to be universal. No one has found a culture = that lacks=20 them. Second, they consume a large portion of available resources. Among = the=20 Owerri in Nigeria, for example, the artists who build and paint = ceremonial=20 mbari houses are exempted for up to two years from the workload = normally=20 expected of healthy adults. Third, the arts give pleasure. Our internal=20 motivational systems reward us for making and appreciating the arts the = same way=20 they reward us for having sex, spending time with friends, and eating = nutritious=20 food: The experiences feel good. And fourth, young children engage in = the arts=20 almost spontaneously. With only gentle encouragement, children will = sing, move=20 to music, make believe, scribble, and play with words. Together, these = four=20 facts suggest to Dissanayake that natural selection long ago rendered = the arts a=20 standard component of human behavior.

But is art a well-defined category for biological study? In its = freedom from=20 social rules, art resembles play, while in its emphasis on display and=20 embellishment, it resembles ritual. To focus her inquiry, Dissanayake = has picked=20 out a common element: During all these activities, humans make something = special. That is, they distinguish an object or action from the = ordinary.=20 "What's interesting about humans," Dissanayake says, "is that they gild = the=20 lily. They do more than is necessary." "Making special," rather than = "art," is=20 what Dissanayake studies.

What does making special accomplish? Something that has been made = special is=20 more likely to attract and engage the attention of others. Dissanayake = offers as=20 an example the hand axes fashioned by Homo erectus between 1.6 = million=20 and 200,000 years ago. Flat and almond-shaped, with both front-back and=20 left-right symmetry, the axes fit comfortably in the hand and have sharp = cutting=20 edges that meet in a point. They were clearly useful, but they cannot = have been=20 merely tools=E2=80=94they are too attractive. Some are made from pieces = of flint with=20 embedded fossil shells that figure on the sides of the hand axes as = ornaments.=20 Others, under inspection by electron microscope, show no evidence of the = wear=20 and tear of use. Even a plain, well-worn hand ax is the result of far = more care=20 than would be required to produce a stone capable of cutting, and the = pains=20 taken by Homo erectus hundreds of thousands of years ago can stir = strong=20 feelings in Homo sapiens today.

At the simplest level, making special might involve choosing a raw = material=20 with a bright color or an impressive sheen. But any process that assists = in=20 conveying emotion may help to make a thing special. Dissanayake writes = about=20 rhythms and modes=E2=80=94referring to the ways a work of art unfolds in = time and space=20 and to the variety of textures and sensations it deploys. For example, a = singer=20 may establish a relationship with his audience through patterns of = anticipation,=20 delay, and satisfaction. It is probably no accident that these patterns = are also=20 characteristic of mother-infant bonding and adult lovemaking. = Dissanayake=20 speculates that the techniques of making special are part of the = standard human=20 equipment for creating and maintaining affectionate relationships. Like=20 mothering and courtship, they are affiliative behaviors.

To see how making special might have aided human survival in the = Pleistocene,=20 Dissanayake looks to rituals performed in hunter-gatherer societies that = were=20 documented by early-twentieth-century anthropologists. Those rituals = were=20 multimedia syntheses of song, dance, and visual ornamentation. These = arts, she=20 believes, would have helped to elicit a greater emotional response to = whatever=20 ritual they embellished, and the ritual in turn would have reinforced = "group=20 one-heartedness (belonging) and like-mindedness (meaning)." As = Dissanayake=20 explains in What Is Art For?: "A society that performed communal = rites=20 that bound its members in common beliefs and values would presumably = have been=20 more cohesive and therefore more equipped for survival than one that did = not."=20 The tribe that prayed together stayed together (and caught more = ungulates and=20 had more children).

Each of Dissanayake's books concludes with an exhortation. In What = Is Art=20 For? she argues that the arts should be integrated into modern life, = as they=20 are in premodern cultures, not set aside as the fiefdom of specialists=20 self-conscious about their outsider status. In Art and Intimacy, = she=20 calls for more art education in schools. And in Homo Aestheticus, = she=20 takes aim at the hyperliterate credo of poststructuralism: The arts are = a part=20 of our evolved nature, she explains; literacy, a recent invention, = isn't. She=20 diagnoses the Derridean notion that there is nothing outside the text as = a=20 delusion typical of=E2=80=94and flattering to=E2=80=94someone = overinvested in the skill of=20 writing. She dismisses as "poppycock" the notion that there cannot be = thinking=20 or experience without language. Split-brain studies, she points out, = plainly=20 document the contrary; patients with no link between their left and = right=20 hemispheres can use drawings to answer questions they cannot respond to = with=20 language. Until language stamps it with meaning, Gayatri Spivak once = argued, the=20 "shudder in the nerve strings" is "a direct sign of nothing." = Dissanayake=20 retorts: "Nothing? Fire is hot. Hunger is bad. Babies are good."

S.B. Dissanayake's work in public health took the = couple to=20 Nigeria in 1979 and to Papua New Guinea in 1982. Ellen had not yet found = a=20 publisher for her book, and as she revised, observations of premodern = rituals in=20 both countries found their way into her manuscript.

Her scholarly luck changed, however, after an essay of hers appeared = in=20 The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism in 1980. She received = a fan=20 letter from David Mandel, a retired labor lawyer in New York with an = interest in=20 art and human evolution, who soon became her "fairy godfather": In 1983 = he=20 offered to sponsor a lectureship for her at the New School's graduate = program in=20 liberal studies. For three years, she would receive an annual stipend of = ten=20 thousand dollars.

In New York, Dissanayake found that she loved teaching and loved the = NYU=20 library, to which New School faculty have access. Unfortunately, = Mandel's=20 support did not continue as planned. Sympathetic administrators offered = to fund=20 Dissanayake for a second year, at about half the sum that Mandel had = provided.=20 But after that, she would receive only the standard New School = rate=E2=80=94less than=20 half of that half, and not enough to support life in Manhattan and pay = for a=20 round-trip ticket to Sri Lanka. In the spring of 1985, Dissanayake again = faced a=20 choice. "I realized that if I went back to Sri Lanka, I wouldn't be able = to do=20 this anymore."

She stayed. "It was a difficult decision," she says quietly. She had = been "a=20 closet scholar," as she puts it, for years, but now her livelihood would = depend=20 on it. She found an inexpensive Manhattan apartment and took a job at a=20 transcription agency to make ends meet. In October of that year, What = Is Art=20 For? was at last accepted for publication, by the University of = Washington=20 Press.

Over the next three years, her teaching duties became more = burdensome. She=20 sold the rights to her next book, Homo Aestheticus, to the Free = Press for=20 five thousand dollars and lived on the advance for six months, but she = needed to=20 find a new way to support herself as a scholar. Serendipitously, when = What Is=20 Art For? was finally published, in 1988, it was embraced by an = audience she=20 had not reckoned on. Art educators, art therapists, and craftspeople = welcomed=20 her conclusion that the arts were essential to human nature. In 1991, = the=20 National Art Education Association invited Dissanayake to give the = keynote=20 speech at its annual convention in Atlanta. She received a standing = ovation.=20 Over the next decade, she says, she gave more than a hundred paid = lectures.

"I used to long to be at a university," Dissanayake recalls. "I'd = just feel=20 this ache. I would think, This is how women must feel who'd like to have = a baby=20 and can't." She has come close to returning to academe. She has held = visiting=20 professorships at Ball State University (1997) and at the University of = Alberta=20 in Edmonton (1998). In 1993, she won a fellowship to study mother-infant = bonding=20 with Colwyn Trevarthen at the University of Edinburgh's Institute for = Advanced=20 Studies in the Humanities. It was in Scotland that Dissanayake learned = more of=20 the details concerning mother-infant affiliative behavior that = distinguish=20 Art and Intimacy from her earlier work=E2=80=94and from nearly = all other studies=20 of evolution and the arts.

After Scotland, Dissanayake spent three years writing Art and = Intimacy=20 at her parents' house in Port Townsend, Washington, before settling in = Seattle.=20 Today, for the first time, she owns her home. "Maybe I'm ready just to = play=20 chamber music and read Emerson for the rest of my life," she suggests. = But then=20 she names two more books she wants to write=E2=80=94an evolutionary = analysis of music=20 and a rebuttal to evolutionary psychologists who in her opinion have=20 underestimated the arts.

Dissanayake is not the first to speculate that the = arts are=20 an evolved behavior. In The Descent of Man, Darwin noted that = humans=20 share the sense of beauty with other animals. Bowerbirds, for example, = ornament=20 "their playing-passages with gaily-coloured objects." He believed that = if apes=20 could give their opinion, they "would probably declare that they could = and did=20 admire the beauty of the coloured skin and fur of their partners in = marriage."=20

But although Darwin wondered about natural selection and the arts = more than a=20 century ago, Dissanayake's most attentive critics=E2=80=94her loyal = opposition, as it=20 were=E2=80=94belong to a school of thought so young that it did not = exist when she=20 started to write on the topic: evolutionary psychology. The discipline's = manifesto, written by Leda Cosmides and her husband, the UC-Santa = Barbara=20 anthropology professor John Tooby, appeared in 1992 as the first chapter = of an=20 anthology titled The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the = Generation=20 of Culture (Oxford). Tooby and Cosmides proposed to examine how = natural=20 selection shaped human behavior. In this, their field resembled = sociobiology,=20 its controversial predecessor. But evolutionary psychology disavowed any = comprehensive explanation of present-day human behavior by emphasizing = that=20 natural selection designed humans to succeed on the African savanna of = the=20 Pleistocene=E2=80=94an environment radically unlike the urban, = industrialized, literate=20 world where most of us now live.

Evolutionary psychologists have found evidence that seems to confirm = Darwin's=20 hunch that human aesthetic preferences have been shaped by natural = selection.=20 For example, most people find a grassland with scattered trees to be the = prettiest kind of landscape=E2=80=94no surprise, since that's how the = African savanna=20 looked during the Pleistocene, and it would make sense if our = predilections=20 encouraged us to seek out the terrain we are best equipped to survive = in. When=20 eight-year-olds are shown photos of a rain forest, a deciduous forest, a = coniferous forest, an East African savanna, and a desert, they = overwhelmingly=20 pick the savanna as the place they would most like to live.

For the aesthetics of mate selection, evolutionary psychologists have = even=20 sharper theories and even better evidence. A preference for symmetrical = features=20 and blemish-free skin, they explain, probably lowers the chance that the = future=20 parent of your children will be riddled with parasites and mutations. = Men=20 generally prefer women with a waist-to-hip ratio of 0.70 or lower, = presumably=20 because the ratio correlates with high fertility. Women seem to prefer = men who=20 are six to seven inches taller than they are, most likely because height = correlates with power, status, and wealth. (Human penises are larger = than those=20 of other primates because human females appear to fancy a few more = inches in=20 that department too.) But do a set of evolved preferences amount to the=20 evolution of art? A skeptic might find apropos this line from Glenway = Wescott's=20 novel The Pilgrim Hawk: "No doubt art is too exceptional to be = worth=20 talking about; but sex is not."

No such skepticism afflicts Geoffrey Miller. Like Dissanayake, Miller = has a=20 proposal to explain what art is for. In The Mating Mind = (Doubleday,=20 2000), he suggests that the arts=E2=80=94and many other aspects of human = culture=E2=80=94first=20 developed as a way of showing off to prospective mates. The more complex = and=20 delicate the arts became, the more taxing they were of brainpower and = the better=20 they functioned as indicators of an individual's vigor. In Miller's = view, "the=20 peacock's tail, the nightingale's song, the bowerbird's nest, the = butterfly's=20 wing, the Irish elk's antlers, the baboon's rump, and the first three = Led=20 Zeppelin albums" are all forms of romantic excess. They advertise good = health=20 and good genes (and the prospect of good sex) by throwing effort away as = conspicuously as possible.

But most evolutionary psychologists doubt that either Miller or = Dissanayake=20 has discovered the adaptive function of the arts, because they doubt = that the=20 arts have an adaptive function at all. We have evolved preferences that = help us=20 choose mates, real estate, and things to eat. And "we're good at making = things,"=20 explains Steven Pinker. "Put those two facts together, and you've got a = species=20 that's smart enough to know how to concoct artificial stimuli to push = its own=20 pleasure buttons." Pinker likens the arts to pornography, strawberry = cheesecake,=20 and drug abuse. Drug abuse, for example, is present in almost every = culture,=20 consumes gross amounts of an individual's energy and resources, and is = intensely=20 pleasurable. But it is not a behavior that anyone would call adaptive. =

Pinker is not persuaded that there is a close enough fit between the = behavior=20 Dissanayake describes and the benefit she thinks it offers. Art probably = does=20 coordinate an audience's emotions, he concedes, but to prove that it = evolved=20 specifically for that purpose, you would have to show that art was one = of the=20 most efficient ways imaginable to achieve it. If you were going to = design group=20 cohesion from scratch, he asks, "Is there any compelling reason that you = would=20 smear pigment on a cave wall or make rhythmic and tonal noises?"

Pinker believes the arts are a by-product of other adaptations. = Cosmides=20 shares many of his reservations, but lately she has begun to reconsider. = "Ten or=20 fifteen years ago, I would have said that obviously the arts are a = by-product=20 and I haven't heard any interesting arguments otherwise," Cosmides says. = "I=20 think that's changed." What provokes her is something she calls = "off-line=20 thinking."

"When you're in a movie theater watching Jaws, your emotion = system is=20 actually engaged, but your motor system is not," Cosmides explains. = "Nobody has=20 to hold you back from the screen." That's odd, given that emotions are = what spur=20 us into action, and it suggests that humans are well designed for = appreciating=20 fictional narratives. Furthermore, we have a strong appetite for = off-line=20 experiences: We watch sitcoms and dramas more often than news programs = and=20 documentaries. And that's odd, because those shows contain very little = accurate=20 information about the world. What might the evolutionary advantage of = fiction=20 be? Cosmides doesn't rule out Dissanayake's proposal, but she offers a = few of=20 her own.

In a recent article in the journal SubStance, Cosmides and = Tooby have=20 suggested that telling and enjoying stories might be the ways that human = brains=20 build the mental components responsible for managing social behavior. = Most such=20 assembly processes finish their task and then disappear (babbling, for = example,=20 subsides after infants learn to speak), but it may be that social = behavior is so=20 complex and vital that humans never stop tinkering with this particular = weapon=20 in their psychic armamentarium. "It might be that a cheap way of = learning about=20 the social world is to run simulations," says Cosmides. "So if you're = reading=20 Lord Jim, you're learning about what happens in a social = community when=20 somebody does what's considered to be an act of cowardice."

To describe the brain's architecture, evolutionary=20 psychologists like Miller, Pinker, and Cosmides borrow heavily from the=20 vocabulary of cognitive psychology, which can have the disembodied tone = of=20 computer programming. While Dissanayake is wondering how art would make = a group=20 of hunter-gatherers feel, her critics sometimes seem to be daydreaming = about how=20 to program social robots. Naturally enough, her replies to their = objections call=20 on the emotions and lived experience.

Although she agrees in part with Miller's thesis that the arts serve = the=20 purposes of sexual display and competition, she says, "I think that the = arts=20 observably do more than that." In her opinion, Miller's thesis doesn't = account=20 for all the feelings and social effects caused by art. Nor, she feels, = is sexual=20 display always relevant to artistic effort. She points out that in many=20 traditional cultures, innovation and competition are not at issue. = "Australian=20 Aborigines had to make their sand paintings and designs exactly the same = as they=20 had been painted before," she explains. "No one was going to be better = at=20 painting all those dots along the path to the water hole."

What about Pinker's doubt that visual stimulus and rhythmic = interaction are=20 efficient ways of engineering group cohesion? "Well, it works between = mothers=20 and babies," Dissanayake says. Mothers and infants establish and = maintain their=20 bond by mimicking each other's facial expressions and exchanging = singsong=20 speech. Between them, timing and intensity are delicate matters, as is = clear=20 from a charming experiment by Daniel Stern that Dissanayake describes in = Homo=20 Aestheticus. Normally, if a mother jiggles her baby's bottom, he = will=20 continue to play as if nothing has happened. But Stern found that if he = asked a=20 mother to mistime her jiggle, even slightly, so as not to match her = estimate of=20 the child's excitement level, the baby would stop playing and give her a = questioning look. However unwieldy and complex they may seem, = Dissanayake's=20 "rhythms and modes" may be the standard way that humans build and = maintain a=20 sympathetic connection. "That's the feeling of connectedness you have = with=20 anybody when your rhythms are in sync," she says. "It occurs in = lovemaking. It=20 occurs in good conversation when people are on the same wavelength. And = other=20 animals don't do it."

As for Cosmides's hypothesis that fiction is social learning by means = of=20 simulation, Dissanayake is not convinced that the gain in strategic = knowledge=20 would justify the trouble and expense of making art. Nor does the = hypothesis=20 explain what would motivate an artist to share his work, nor how = aesthetic=20 elements command an audience's interest. Dissanayake gives an example: = If=20 Tolstoy's short story "The Kreutzer Sonata" were condensed into a = police-blotter=20 report, all the social facts would appear in the summary: A jealous = husband=20 murders his wife because he hears her love for another man expressed in = her=20 piano playing. But even when readers know how it ends, they insist on = enjoying=20 the story itself. "Why do you not get the same thing from just that plot = that=20 you get from the fiction?" she asks. Perhaps because the story becomes = art only=20 after Tolstoy has made it special.

Whatever their differences, Dissanayake and = evolutionary=20 psychologists agree with Darwin that the arts are rooted in a common = human=20 nature inflected by age and gender and that the variations among the = human races=20 are trivial. "My intimate life with Sri Lankans," Dissanayake writes in = Art=20 and Intimacy, "made me the opposite of a fanatical cultural = relativist: I=20 have in fact become more impressed with the deeper human similarities = that=20 underlie cultural difference."

In humanities departments of late, faith in a universal human nature = has been=20 fairly beleaguered. But evolutionary psychologists believe in it with a=20 vengeance. They assert that culture has organization, structure, and = content=20 only because individual human brains do. And they have started to make = converts.=20

After the Temple University English professor Robert Storey realized = to his=20 chagrin that he "could apply psychoanalytic theory any way I chose," he = found=20 himself attracted to "the empirical steadiness" of evolutionary = psychology. His=20 Mimesis and the Human Animal: On the Biogenetic Foundations of = Literary=20 Representation (Northwestern, 1996) speculates about the emotional=20 "biogrammars" that inform the genres of comedy and tragedy. The = University of=20 Oregon's Michelle Scalise Sugiyama says she turned to evolutionary = psychology=20 "due to my failure to be convinced by postmodernist theory." Her = dissertation=20 for the UC-Santa Barbara English department analyzed in Darwinian terms = the=20 choices faced by women in Ernest Hemingway's fiction. (Mate choice, = sexual=20 fidelity, and hunting prowess are, after all, more than a little = relevant to=20 "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.") Ian Jobling, a graduate = student in=20 comparative literature at SUNY Buffalo, has written about the way Sir = Walter=20 Scott's Ivanhoe satisfies the naturally selected but currently=20 maladaptive desire for murderous revenge. His Ivanhoe essay = appeared in=20 the spring 2001 issue of Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, = which was=20 devoted to literary biopoetics. The issue was edited by the Texas = A&M=20 Russian professor Brett Cooke, who is also responsible, with UT-Dallas's = Frederick Turner, for the anthology Biopoetics: Evolutionary = Explorations in=20 the Arts (Paragon House, 1999).

Biopoetics, also known as Darwinian literary criticism, seems to have = as many=20 versions as practitioners. But its chief theorist may be the English = professor=20 Joseph Carroll of the University of Missouri at St. Louis. Carroll = conceives of=20 literature as "a form of knowledge" or "cognitive mapping." Aesthetic = concerns,=20 he admits, are not his primary interest. "I occasionally remind myself = to go pay=20 a little attention to the stylistic and formal aspects of literary art," = he=20 jokes, "but it always takes a little bit of an effort." What drew him to = biopoetics was the prospect of a model of human nature grounded in = empirical=20 science that he could set against poststructuralism. In his 518-page=20 Evolution and Literary Criticism (Missouri, 1995), Carroll argued = with=20 encyclopedic thoroughness that by the lights of evolutionary psychology, = Michel=20 Foucault and Jacques Derrida do not offer intellectual frameworks for = literary=20 criticism as instructive as those of M.H. Abrams, who spread his = critical=20 attention across the artwork, the artist, the audience, and nature, or = Hippolyte=20 Taine, who followed Darwin in understanding culture as a product of = biology.=20 "Why do you study the shell, except to represent to yourself the = animal?" Taine=20 wrote. "So do you study the document only in order to know the man." =

If Carroll is pope, then in the University of New Orleans's Nancy = Easterlin,=20 bio-poetics may already have a doubting Thomas. "I wouldn't say that's a = wrong=20 characterization," Easterlin says cautiously. Easterlin is associate = editor of=20 Philosophy & Literature, which is planning to mark its = twenty-fifth=20 anniversary with an issue dedicated to evolutionary and cognitive = psychology.=20 "Do cognitive predispositions predict or determine literary values?" she = asked=20 in an essay in the Biopoetics anthology. Her answer: "a qualified = 'no.'"=20 The human appetite for plot appears to be a result of natural selection. = But=20 whether a work of literature satisfies or frustrates that appetite is no = indication of its quality, Easterlin suggested. In the recent special = issue of=20 Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, she expressed her doubts even = more=20 forcibly: "We need to step back and consider for a moment whether = science has=20 any actual value for literary studies." Biology may be able to enhance=20 speculation about literature, she argued, but will never replace it. = Criticism=20 will=E2=80=94and should=E2=80=94remain subjective. After all, she = clarifies by telephone, for=20 the most part "we still teach appreciation."

Dissanayake shares some of Easterlin's skepticism = about=20 Darwinian criticism of the arts. "Is there more to it than just = identifying=20 evolutionarily relevant themes?" she asks. "I don't know." But she does = believe=20 that biopoetics might help critics to avoid dead ends like = post-structuralism.=20 "I think you will save yourself a lot of bullshit and hot air if you can = always=20 bring it back to what literature has been for and that it comes out of = our=20 nature."

Though Dissanayake the evolutionary theorist avoids making value = judgments=20 about works of art, personally she does believe that some experiences of = art are=20 richer than others. "In any tradition, there's a kind of fullness and = resonance=20 in a great work of art," she explains. "What the Darwinians are talking = about,=20 preferences, are the lowest level. It merely gets your attention." A = ripe fruit=20 may spark a viewer's appetite, but to turn an image of fruit into art,=20 "something more has to be done with it."

When Dissanayake accompanies a reporter to Seattle's Frye Art Museum, = she=20 stops in front of a nineteenth-century oil painting by Adolf Schreyer of = horses=20 trying to escape from a burning stable. The melodramatic subject matter, = with=20 its direct solicitation of the viewer's emotions, doesn't much appeal to = her.=20 Dissanayake spends most of the visit admiring a group of egg-tempera = scenes of=20 Brooklyn painted by the contemporary artist Doug Safranek. As a medium, = egg=20 tempera demands patience, Dissanayake explains. To achieve its delicate = colors,=20 a painter has to apply coat after coat. And Safranek's fastidious = draftsmanship=20 has made his task no easier; he renders even the refuse in vacant lots = in=20 exacting detail, and he likes to set himself challenges like slush on = pavement=20 at twilight and laundry hung out to dry as seen from a bird's-eye view. = It's=20 this evidence of Safranek's care that Dissanayake seems to like and the = way he=20 has arranged his rooftop perspectives and sharply slanting clotheslines = to draw=20 the viewer in, so that you have the dizzy sense that you are about to = fall into=20 another, more carefully observed world.

19th Century Online

19th = Century=20 in Print=20
19th Century in Print = (Cornell=20 Making of America)=20
19th Century in Print (Michigan = Making of=20 America)=20
American Journeys: = Eyewitness Accounts=20 of Early American Exploration and Settlement=20
Americ= an=20 Periodicals (RSAP)=20
Appleton's Cyclopedia=20 (Virtualology)=20
Archives=20 of Maryland Online=20
Audubon's Birds of = America=20
Brooklyn Daily Eagle=20 (1841-1902)=20
Castle Garden=20
Cities=20 in the Americas=20
Colonial = Connecticut=20 Records, 1636-1776=20
David Rumsey Historical = Map=20 Collection=20
Davies Project = (American=20 Libraries Before 1876)=20
Documenting the American South=20
Electronic Texts in = American=20 Studies=20
Farber Gravestone = Collection=20
Haymarket = Affair Digital=20 Collection=20
Historical U.S. Census = Data=20 Browser=20
Home Economics Archive = (HEARTH)=20
Internet Library of Early = Journals=20 (U.K.)=20
Legacy Tobacco Documents = (20th C)=20
Moving=20 Uptown: 19th-Century Views of Manhattan=20
National Portrait Gallery (U.S.)=20
New York = State=20 Library's historical documents=20
Old Sturbridge Village, History = Learning=20 Lab=20
Pocahontas = Archive=20
Realms of = Gold: Map=20 Catalog of the American Philosophical Society=20
Smithsonian I.R.I.S. = (Pre-1877=20 exhibition records)=20
Smithsonian Photography = Initiative=20
The = Atlantic Slave=20 Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record=20
The Lost Museum =
Times of = London,=20 1785-1985=20
Uncle Tom's Cabin and = American=20 Culture=20
Virtual New York City=20
Wright American = Fiction=20 (1851-1875)

About

This blog is written by Caleb Crain, and = there is an=20 email address for me at the top of the "About" = page; the=20 blog's archives are = also=20 available. Buy the official Steamboats Are Ruining Everything = T-shirts here. =

Subscribe to this blog's = feed=20

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MARGIN: 2px 0px 16px 3px } .comment-form .comment-error { FONT-SIZE: 0.9em; MARGIN: 2px 0px 16px 3px } .comment-form .comment-error { FONT-SIZE: 0.9em; MARGIN: 2px 0px 16px 3px } .comment-form .active-error { DISPLAY: block } .yellowBox { BORDER-RIGHT: 1px solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 8px; BORDER-TOP: 1px solid; = PADDING-LEFT: 8px; BACKGROUND: url(../../images/atpcomment-gradient.png) = #ffffe6 repeat-x left top; PADDING-BOTTOM: 8px; MARGIN: 10px 0px 50px; = BORDER-LEFT: 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 8px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px solid } .yellowGreenBox { BORDER-RIGHT: 1px solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 8px; BORDER-TOP: 1px solid; = PADDING-LEFT: 8px; BACKGROUND: url(../../images/atpcomment-gradient.png) = #ffffe6 repeat-x left top; PADDING-BOTTOM: 8px; MARGIN: 10px 0px 50px; = BORDER-LEFT: 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 8px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px solid } .redBox { BORDER-RIGHT: 1px solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 8px; BORDER-TOP: 1px solid; = PADDING-LEFT: 8px; BACKGROUND: url(../../images/atpcomment-gradient.png) = #ffffe6 repeat-x left top; PADDING-BOTTOM: 8px; MARGIN: 10px 0px 50px; = BORDER-LEFT: 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 8px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px solid } .yellowBox P { MARGIN-TOP: 0px } .yellowGreenBox P { MARGIN-TOP: 0px } .redBox P { MARGIN-TOP: 0px } .hiddenBox { DISPLAY: none } .visibilityHiddenBox { VISIBILITY: hidden } .comments-open LABEL.hiddenBox { DISPLAY: none } .yellowBox { BORDER-RIGHT: #ffbb33 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #ffbb33 1px solid; = BORDER-LEFT: #ffbb33 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ffbb33 1px solid } .yellowGreenBox { BORDER-RIGHT: #669900 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #669900 1px solid; = BORDER-LEFT: #669900 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #669900 1px solid } .redBox { BORDER-RIGHT: #cc2200 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #cc2200 1px solid; = BORDER-LEFT: #cc2200 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #cc2200 1px solid } .captchaErrorText { PADDING-LEFT: 20px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; BACKGROUND: = url(../../images/atpcomment-error-icon.png) no-repeat left top } .comment-inline-edit { MARGIN-BOTTOM: 8px } .comment-inline-edit TEXTAREA { MARGIN-BOTTOM: 8px } .comment-inline-preview { MARGIN-BOTTOM: 8px } .comment-inline-preview P { MARGIN-BOTTOM: 8px } ------=_NextPart_000_0000_01C900AF.EC5107E0 Content-Type: text/css; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.steamthing.com/styles.css @import url( /.shared/themes/common/base-weblog.css ); A { TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:link { COLOR: #800000 } A:visited { COLOR: #ff7f50 } A:active { COLOR: #8b008b } A:hover { COLOR: #ffb6c1 } BODY { FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: small; BACKGROUND: #fffff0; MARGIN: = 0px; COLOR: #333333; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New = Roman', serif } #container { POSITION: static } #container-inner { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND: #fffff0; = BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; POSITION: static; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } #banner { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND: #fffff0; = BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; COLOR: #ff0000; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times = New Roman', serif; HEIGHT: 1%; TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } #banner-inner { PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; = PADDING-TOP: 15px } #banner A { COLOR: #ff0000; TEXT-DECORATION: none } #banner-header { FONT-SIZE: xx-large; MARGIN: 0.25em 0px } #banner-description { FONT-SIZE: small; MARGIN: 0.25em 0px } #banner { BACKGROUND-POSITION: 15px 15px; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: = url(http://steamthing.typepad.com/steamboats_are_ruining_ev/banner-850-ne= w.jpg); BACKGROUND-REPEAT: no-repeat; HEIGHT: 154px; TEXT-ALIGN: left } #banner-inner { PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; OVERFLOW: = visible; PADDING-TOP: 0px } #banner-header { PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; = MARGIN: 0px; WIDTH: 100%; PADDING-TOP: 0px; POSITION: absolute; TOP: = 0px; HEIGHT: 100% } #banner-header A { DISPLAY: block; LEFT: 0px; TEXT-INDENT: -1000em; TOP: 0px; HEIGHT: = 154px } #banner-description { PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: = 0px; OVERFLOW: hidden; WIDTH: 0px; TEXT-INDENT: -1000em; PADDING-TOP: = 0px; HEIGHT: 0px } #container { WIDTH: auto } .layout-artistic #alpha { DISPLAY: block; FLOAT: none; WIDTH: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: 465px } .layout-calendar #alpha { DISPLAY: block; FLOAT: none; WIDTH: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: 465px } .layout-artistic #alpha-inner { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; = BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND: #fffff0; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; = PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; PADDING-TOP: 15px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .layout-calendar #alpha-inner { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; = BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND: #fffff0; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; = PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; PADDING-TOP: 15px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .layout-timeline #alpha-inner { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; = BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND: #fffff0; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; = PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; PADDING-TOP: 15px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .layout-artistic #beta { DISPLAY: block; RIGHT: 0px; FLOAT: none; WIDTH: 465px; POSITION: = absolute; TOP: 0px } .layout-calendar #beta { DISPLAY: block; RIGHT: 0px; FLOAT: none; WIDTH: 465px; POSITION: = absolute; TOP: 0px } .layout-artistic #beta-inner { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; = BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND: #fffff0; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; = PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; PADDING-TOP: 15px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .layout-calendar #beta-inner { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; = BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND: #fffff0; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; = PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; PADDING-TOP: 15px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .layout-timeline #beta-inner { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; = BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND: #fffff0; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; = PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; PADDING-TOP: 15px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } #beta #gamma { MARGIN: 15px 0px; WIDTH: 210px } #beta #delta { MARGIN: 15px 0px; WIDTH: 210px } #beta #gamma-inner { PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; = PADDING-TOP: 0px } #beta #delta-inner { PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; = PADDING-TOP: 0px } .content-nav { MARGIN-TOP: 0px } .date-header { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; = FONT-SIZE: small; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px; = TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; COLOR: #800000; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, = sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .trackbacks-header { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; = FONT-SIZE: small; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px; = TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; COLOR: #800000; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, = sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .comments-header { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; = FONT-SIZE: small; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px; = TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; COLOR: #800000; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, = sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .comments-open-header { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; = FONT-SIZE: small; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px; = TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; COLOR: #800000; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, = sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .archive-header { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; = FONT-SIZE: small; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px; = TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; COLOR: #800000; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, = sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .entry-header { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; = FONT-SIZE: medium; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; MARGIN: 1px 0px 10px; = TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; COLOR: #800000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande', = Verdana, sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .entry-content { MARGIN: 10px 0px } .entry-footer { MARGIN: 10px 0px } .trackbacks-info { MARGIN: 10px 0px } .trackback-content { MARGIN: 10px 0px } .comment-content { MARGIN: 10px 0px } .comments-open-content { MARGIN: 10px 0px } .comments-open-footer { MARGIN: 10px 0px } .comments-closed { MARGIN: 10px 0px } .archive-content { MARGIN: 10px 0px } .entry-content P { TEXT-ALIGN: left } .entry-footer { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: x-small; = BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px; COLOR: #666666; = LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; = TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .trackback-footer { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: x-small; = BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px; COLOR: #666666; = LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; = TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .comment-footer { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: x-small; = BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px; COLOR: #666666; = LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; = TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } #comment-author { WIDTH: 80% } #comment-email { WIDTH: 80% } #comment-url { WIDTH: 80% } #comment-text { WIDTH: 80% } IMG.image-full { WIDTH: 320px } .module A { TEXT-DECORATION: none } .module A:link { COLOR: #000000 } .module A:visited { COLOR: #666666 } .module A:active { COLOR: #8b008b } .module A:hover { COLOR: #ffb6c1 } .module-header { PADDING-RIGHT: 3px; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 3px; = FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: x-small; PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px; MARGIN: 5px = 0px; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; COLOR: #000000; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; = PADDING-TOP: 3px; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, sans-serif; = LETTER-SPACING: 0.3em; TEXT-ALIGN: center } .module-content { FONT-SIZE: x-small; MARGIN: 5px 0px 20px; COLOR: #000000; LINE-HEIGHT: = 100%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: = left } .module-list { MARGIN: 0px } .module-list-item { MARGIN: 10px 0px } .typelist-thumbnailed .module-list-item { MARGIN: 10px 0px } .module IMG { BORDER-RIGHT: #333333 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #333333 1px solid; = BORDER-LEFT: #333333 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #333333 1px solid } .module-photo IMG { BORDER-RIGHT: #333333 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #333333 1px solid; = BORDER-LEFT: #333333 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #333333 1px solid } .module-photo .module-content { TEXT-ALIGN: left } .module-powered { TEXT-ALIGN: left } .module-calendar .module-header { PADDING-RIGHT: 3px; BORDER-TOP: #000000 1px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 3px; = FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: x-small; PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px; = TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; COLOR: #000000; PADDING-TOP: 3px; = FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, sans-serif; LETTER-SPACING: = 0.3em; TEXT-ALIGN: center } .module-calendar TH { FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center } .module-calendar TD { FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: center } .typelist-thumbnail IMG { MARGIN: 0px } .module-featured-photo { MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5px } .module-featured-photo .module-content IMG { WIDTH: 420px } .module-recent-photos .module-content { PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; = PADDING-TOP: 2px } .module-recent-photos .module-list { MARGIN: 0px } .module-recent-photos .module-list-item { MARGIN: 0px 2px 2px 0px; WIDTH: 70px; HEIGHT: 70px } .layout-moblog1 #container { WIDTH: auto } .layout-moblog1 #alpha { DISPLAY: block; LEFT: 0px; FLOAT: none; WIDTH: 200px; POSITION: = absolute; TOP: 0px } .layout-moblog1 #alpha-inner { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; = BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND: #fffff0; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; = PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; PADDING-TOP: 15px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .layout-moblog1 #beta { DISPLAY: block; FLOAT: none; MARGIN-LEFT: 200px; WIDTH: auto; = MARGIN-RIGHT: 200px } .layout-moblog1 #beta-inner { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; = BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND: #fffff0; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; = PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; PADDING-TOP: 15px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .layout-moblog1 #gamma { DISPLAY: block; RIGHT: 0px; FLOAT: none; WIDTH: 200px; POSITION: = absolute; TOP: 0px } .layout-moblog1 #gamma-inner { BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 15px; = BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND: #fffff0; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; = PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; PADDING-TOP: 15px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px } .layout-moblog2 #container { WIDTH: auto } .layout-moblog2 #alpha { DISPLAY: block; LEFT: 0px; FLOAT: none; WIDTH: 100px; 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