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Evolutionary biological issues in Edith Wharton's The Children.(Critical Essay)

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From: College Literature
Date: 20050322
Author:Saunders, Judith P.

The Children (1928) is in important respects Edith Wharton's most modern work of fiction. This novel delineates a ruptured social fabric, kaleidoscopic shiftings in human loyalties, and bizarrely fragmented familial ties. A story-line focused on the conduct of parents and offspring, highlighting disturbed intergenerational behavior, portrays the dark side of modernity and at the same time decisively invites biosocial scrutiny. Readers observe adults who cavalierly neglect their offspring, thus jeopardizing their own fitness (ultimate reproductive success). (1) In response to ...

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