Darwin, Literature and Victorian Respectability

Darwin, Literature and Victorian Respectability by Gowan Dawson

The success of Charles Darwin's evolutionary theories in mid-nineteenth-century Britain has long been attributed, in part, to his own adherence to strict standards of Victorian respectability, especially in regard to sex. Gowan Dawson contends that the fashioning of such respectability was by no means straightforward or unproblematic, with Darwin and his principal supporters facing surprisingly numerous and enduring accusations of encouraging sexual impropriety. Integrating contextual approaches to the history of science with work in literary studies, Dawson sheds light on the well-known debates over evolution by examining them in relation to the murky underworlds of Victorian pornography, sexual innuendo, unrespectable freethought and artistic sensualism. Such disreputable and generally overlooked aspects of nineteenth-century culture were actually remarkably central to many of these controversies. Focusing particularly on aesthetic literature and legal definitions of obscenity, Dawson reveals the underlying tensions between Darwin's theories and conventional notions of Victorian respectability.

Review of the hardback: '… a strikingly original, probing study that should command the attention and respect of scholars of Darwin and of Victorian scientific culture in general' Frank M. Turner, Journal of BJHS

Gowan Dawson is Lecturer in Victorian Literature at the University of Leicester.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780521128858
ISBN 10	0521128854
Title	Darwin, Literature and Victorian Respectability
Author	Gowan Dawson
Series	Cambridge Studies In Nineteenth-Century Literature And Culture
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	2010-02-04
Number of pages	300
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.