Popular fiction and brain science in the late nineteenth century / Anne Stiles.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stiles, Anne, 1975-

Series:

Cambridge studies in nineteenth-century literature and culture ; 78.

Cambridge studies in nineteenth-century literature and culture ; 78

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gothic fiction (Literary genre), English--History and criticism.

Gothic fiction (Literary genre), English.

Neurosciences and the arts.

Brain--Research--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Brain.

Gothic revival (Literature)--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Gothic revival (Literature).

Literature and science--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Literature and science.

Neurosciences.

History.

Brain--Research.

Great Britain.

Literature and medicine--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Literature and medicine.

Neurosciences--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Mind and body in literature.

Physiology in literature.

English fiction--19th century--History and criticism.

English fiction.

Physical Description:

xi, 255 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Summary:

"In the 1860s and 1870s, leading neurologists used animal experimentation to establish that discrete sections of the brain regulate specific mental and physical functions. These discoveries had immediate medical benefits: David Ferrier's detailed cortical maps, for example, saved lives by helping surgeons locate brain tumors and haemorrhages without first opening up the skull. These experiments both incited controversy and stimulated creative thought, because they challenged the possibility of an extra-corporeal soul. This book examines the cultural impact of neurological experiments on late Victorian Gothic romances by Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, H. G. Wells and others. Novels like Dracula and Jekyll and Hyde expressed the deep-seated fears and visionary possibilities suggested by cerebral localization research and offered a corrective to the linearity and objectivity of late Victorian neurology"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Cerebral localization and the late Victorian Gothic romance

Part I, Reactionaries: 1. Robert Louis Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde and the double brain ; 2. Bram Stoker's Dracula and cerebral automatism

Part II, Materialists: 3. Photographic memory in the works of Grant Allen

Part III, Visionaries: 4. H. G. Wells and the evolution of the mad scientist ; 5. Marie Corelli and the neuron

Epilogue: Looking forward.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 232-247) and index.

ISBN:

9781107010017

1107010012

OCLC:

752912199

Online:

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