[New-Poetry] Art Instinct

[Bob Grumman]

jforjames at aol.com wrote:
> http://www.barnesandnoble.com/bn-review/note.asp?note=20751503
>
> The Art Instinct is an exploration of human taste. The book's 
> provocative thesis is that our propensity for creating music, 
> literature, drama, and the visual arts is the product of Darwinian 
> evolution, and that our taste in art arises not from cultural 
> indicators but from universal, innate preferences. This argument 
> doesn't come from out of nowhere -- Dutton openly builds upon and 
> complements the work of linguist Steven Pinker, for one -- but the 
> book advances it aggressively and persuasively, even if many questions 
> remain. The Art Instinct also undercuts some fundamental premises in 
> disciplines like cultural studies and anthropology. Expect some nasty 
> reviews.
I wonder if it will get any intelligent reviews.  I also believe in an 
"art instinct."  The book I hope to concentrate on writing this year 
will deal in part with what it is about the brain our genes give us that 
makes us like poetry (and everyone instinctively likes SOME kind of poetry).

Thanks for the heads-up, James.  Sounds like a book I should get.

--Bob