Evolution and Victorian Culture

These essays examine the dynamic interplay between evolution and Victorian culture, mapping new relationships between the arts and sciences.

Bernard V. Lightman (Edited by), Bennett Zon (Edited by)

9781107028425, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 May 2014

342 pages, 35 b/w illus.
23.4 x 16 x 2 cm, 0.7 kg

'What this volume does so well is to demonstrate the real range and complexity of Victorian evolutionary ideas, although we need to recognize that, with only a few notable exceptions, the non-Darwinians believed themselves to be Darwinian through and through.' Piers J. Hale, Isis

In this collection of essays from leading scholars, the dynamic interplay between evolution and Victorian culture is explored for the first time, mapping new relationships between the arts and sciences. Rather than focusing simply on evolution and literature or art, this volume brings together essays exploring the impact of evolutionary ideas on a wide range of cultural activities including painting, sculpture, dance, music, fiction, poetry, cinema, architecture, theatre, photography, museums, exhibitions and popular culture. Broad-ranging, rather than narrowly specialized, each chapter provides a brief introduction to key scholarship, a central section exploring original insights drawn from primary source material, and a conclusion offering overarching principles and a projection towards further areas of research. Each chapter covers the work of significant individuals and groups applying evolutionary theory to their particular art, both as theorists and practitioners. This comprehensive examination of topics sheds light on larger and previously unknown Victorian cultural patterns.

Introduction Bernard V. Lightman and Bennett Zon
1. Evolution and Victorian fiction Cannon Schmitt
2. Poetry John Holmes
3. Between specimen and imagination Elizabeth Edwards
4. Early cinema and evolution Oliver Gaycken
5. Evolution and Victorian arts Barbara Larson
6. 'I'm evolving!': varieties of evolution on the Victorian stage Kirsten E. Shepherd-Barr
7. Dance and evolutionary thought in late Victorian discourse Theresa Jill Buckland
8. The 'non-Darwinian' revolution and the Great Chain of Musical Being Bennett Zon
9. Development and display: progressive evolution in British Victorian architecture and architectural theory Carla Yanni
10. Dramas of development: exhibitions and evolution in Victorian Britain Sadiah Qureshi
11. The popularization of evolution and Victorian culture Bernard V. Lightman.

Subject Areas: Educational: English literature [YQE], History of ideas [JFCX], Popular culture [JFCA], Poetry [DC], Music [AV], Dance [ASD], Theatre studies [AN], Painting & paintings [AFC], History of art / art & design styles [AC]