Darwin's Plots

Evolutionary Narrative in Darwin, George Eliot and Nineteenth-Century Fiction

By: Gillian Beer

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Paperback | 13 July 2009 | Edition Number 3

At a Glance

Paperback
330 Pages

Edition Type
Revised

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 1.75

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Gillian Beer's classic Darwin's Plots, one of the most influential works of literary criticism and cultural history of the last quarter century, is here reissued in an updated edition to coincide with the anniversary of Darwin's birth and of the publication of The Origin of Species. Its focus on how writers, including George Eliot, Charles Kingsley and Thomas Hardy, responded to Darwin's discoveries and to his innovations in scientific language continues to open up new approaches to Darwin's thought and to its effects in the culture of his contemporaries. This third edition includes an important new essay that investigates Darwin's concern with consciousness across all forms of organic life. It demonstrates how this fascination persisted throughout his career and affected his methods and discoveries. With an updated bibliography reflecting recent work in the field, this book will retain its place at the heart of Victorian studies.

Industry Reviews

'Gillian Beer's superb study [is] a work of criticism that takes its modest place among the other 'cloudy triumphs' of English genius.' Michael Neve, Sunday Times
'Offers fresh insights into familiar themes in the history of science by dealing with them in quite a new way.' John Durant, The Times Literary Supplement
'The only problem with this book is deciding what to praise first. It draws on a breadth of knowledge in many fields, its literary readings are alert and original, it has a profound grasp of idea and form. It must be read by the scientist, the student of Victorian thought and art and the educated person in the street. ... The book is so exciting as a work of literary criticism - among much else - that it must provoke and disturb old interpretations and judgements.' Barbara Hardy, New Statesman

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Foreword	p. ix
Preface to the first edition	p. xv
Preface to the second edition	p. xvii
Preface to the third edition	p. xxxiii
Introduction	p. 1
The remnant of the mythical	p. 1
'The second blow'	p. 8
Problems of knowledge	p. 14
Darwin's language	p. 23
'Pleasure like a tragedy': imagination and the material world	p. 25
Fit and misfitting: anthropomorphism and the natural order	p. 44
Darwin's plots	p. 71
Analogy, metaphor and narrative in The Origin	p. 73
Darwinian myths	p. 97
Growth and its myths	p. 97
Growth and transformation	p. 97
Transformation, retrogression, extinction: Darwinian romance	p. 114
Responses: George Eliot and Thomas Hardy	p. 137
George Eliot: Middlemarch	p. 139
The vital influence	p. 139
Structure and hypothesis	p. 148
The web of affinities	p. 156
George Eliot: Daniel Deronda and the idea of a future life	p. 169
Descent and sexual selection: women in narrative	p. 196
Finding a scale for the human: plot and writing in Hardy's novels	p. 220
Darwin and the consciousness of others	p. 242
Notes	p. 256
Select bibliography of primary works	p. 282
Further reading related to Charles Darwin	p. 288
Index	p. 290
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Darwin's Plots

Evolutionary Narrative in Darwin, George Eliot and Nineteenth-Century Fiction

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

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