Abstract

‘Darwin, Tennyson and Their Readers: Explorations in Victorian Literature and Science’ is an edited collection of essays from leading authorities in the field of Victorian literature and science, including Gillian Beer and George Levine. Darwin, Tennyson, Huxley, Ruskin, Richard Owen, Meredith, Wilde and other major writers are discussed, as established scholars in this area explore the interaction between Victorian literary and scientific figures which helped build the intellectual climate of twenty-first century debates.

‘As the distinguished scholars writing in “Darwin, Tennyson and Their Readers” show, the lives and careers of Tennyson and Darwin were intriguingly symmetrical. Without simplifying or fining down methods specific to science and literature, the contributors probe these convergences in deftly written essays that will engage and inform a broad array of readers.’ —Linda K. Hughes, Texas Christian University

‘Beer’s remarks about Darwinian extravagance and Levine’s about Darwinian paradox remind us why they are two of Darwin’s best and most careful readers.’ —Jonathan Smith, ‘SHARP News’

Dr Valerie Purton is Professor of Victorian Literature at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. 

‘This is a very carefully and thoughtfully edited book. It has a beautifully sustained focus and offers a sense of mutuality, of a two-way street between literature and science, rather than literature always just reflecting what was happening in the scientific domain. The book is full of revelations and is a pure pleasure to read. I would love to see more books of this kind in our field.’ —Kirsten Shepherd-Barr, University of Oxford

‘The background to the topic is illuminated in new ways and the texts are explored with interpretative brilliance. This volume enriches our understanding of the complex world of Victorian ideas and creativity – it is a stimulating reading experience, and a very enjoyable one.’ —Marion Shaw, Loughborough University

‘Darwin, Tennyson and Their Readers’ is an edited collection of essays from leading authorities in the field of Victorian literature and science, including Gillian Beer and George Levine. The academic study of the interpenetration of Victorian literature and science has grown to be one of the largest and most dynamic areas in Victorian studies: in this collection, leading exponents in the field consider recent developments. The major figures and exact contemporaries, Charles Darwin and Alfred, Lord Tennyson are considered, in the company of John Ruskin, Thomas Huxley, Richard Owen, George Meredith, Oscar Wilde and others. Throughout, the stress is on the ways in which these writers read and were influenced by each other. Our current understanding of this complex cultural dialogue is illustrated here in a single accessible volume of essays by established scholars in this dynamic academic interdiscipline.

‘Each of the essays in this book makes a lively and stimulating contribution to the thick description of the spread and continual mutation of evolutionary ideas and discourses within Victorian culture. Together, they give us a picture that is richly suggestive for future research in this field.’ —John Holmes, ‘Review of English Studies’