Romantic science : the literary forms of natural history / Noah Heringman, editor.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Heringman, Noah.

Series:

SUNY series, studies in the long nineteenth century

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

English literature.

Nature in literature.

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

Literature and science.

Natural history in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (297 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Although "romantic science" may sound like a paradox, much of the romance surrounding modern science—the mad scientist, the intuitive genius, the utopian transformation of nature—originated in the Romantic period. Romantic Science traces the literary and cultural politics surrounding the formation of the modern scientific disciplines emerging from eighteenth-century natural history. Revealing how scientific concerns were literary concerns in the Romantic period, the contributors uncover the vital role that new discoveries in earth, plant, and animal sciences played in the period's literary culture. As Thomas Pennant put it in 1772, "Natural History is, at present, the favourite science over all Europe, and the progress which has been made in it will distinguish and characterise the eighteenth century in the annals of literature." As they examine the social and literary ramifications of a particular branch or object of natural history, the contributors to this volume historicize our present intellectual landscape by reimagining and redrawing the disciplinary boundaries between literature and science.Contributors include Alan Bewell, Rachel Crawford, Noah Heringman, Theresa M. Kelley, Amy Mae King, Lydia H. Liu, Anne K. Mellor, Stuart Peterfreund, and Catherine E. Ross.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Figures

A Note about the Cover

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Boundaries of Natural History

“Twin Labourers and Heirs of the Same Hopes”

The Rock Record and Romantic Narratives of the Earth

“Great Frosts and . . . Some Very Hot Summers”

The Global Reach of Natural History

Jefferson’s Thermometer

Robinson Crusoe’s Earthenware Pot

Frankenstein, Racial Science, and the “Yellow Peril”

Botany, Taxonomy, and Political Discourse

Lyrical Strategies, Didactic Intent

Romantic Exemplarity

Taxonomical Cures

About the Contributors

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780791486931

0791486931

9781417538768

1417538767

OCLC:

56418461