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.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
ISBN-13
9780521128858
eBay Product ID (ePID)
95489559
Product Key Features
Author
Gowan Dawson
Publication Name
Darwin, Literature and Victorian Respectability
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Subject
Science
Publication Year
2010
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
300 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
229mm
Item Width
152mm
Item Weight
440g
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Gowan Dawson
Series Title
Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture
Country/Region of Manufacture
United Kingdom
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