Angl2102-2 - WS22/23 Böhnke - (Neo)Darwinism: Victorian and Contemporary Perspectives - WS 22/23

2102-2
Seminar Wissenschaft und Kultur: (Neo)Darwinism: Victorian and Contemporary Perspectives
dienstags 9.15-10.45 Uhr, Seminargebäude S 327, Böhnke, Dietmar

Reading list: Appleman, P., ed. (2001), Darwin: Texts; Commentary. NY: Norton; Boyd, B. et al, eds. (2010), Evolution, Literature, and Film: A Reader. NY: Columbia UP;  Dawson, G. + B. Lightman, eds. (2011), Victorian Science and Literature. London: Pickering & Chatto. Dupré, J. (2003), Darwin’s Legacy: What Evolution Means Today. OUP; Glendening, J. (2013), Science, Religion, and the Neo-Victorian Novel. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis; Levine, G. (1988), Darwin and the Novelists: Patterns of Science in Victorian Fiction. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP; Hodge, J./G. Radick, eds. (2003), The Cambridge Companion to Darwin. CUP; Otis, L., ed. (2002), Literature and Science in the Nineteenth Century. OUP; Voigts, Eckart et al, eds. (2014), Reflecting on Darwin. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate.

Exam: research project in this course or in course 2102-1

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and his magnum opus, The Origin of Species, are clearly among the most widely known aspects of British culture throughout the world. In this course, we will be looking at this eminent British scientist and writer – surely one of the most influential persons in the whole nineteenth century – from both Victorian and contemporary perspectives. On the one hand, we will be interested in his life and work and the impact this had on Victorian science, society, religion and culture (notably literature, as in Eliot, Hardy, Stevenson and Wells). On the other hand, the focus will be on the contemporary legacies of Darwin(ism), both in science (neo-Darwinism, molecular biology, neuropsychology, genetics etc.), society (e.g. the discussion about Creationism and intelligent design) and culture – literary works like A.S. Byatt’s Angels and Insects, Tracy Chevalier’s Remarkable Creatures, Jenny Diski’s Monkey’s Uncle, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, Roger McDonald’s Mr Darwin’s Shooter, Ian McEwan’s Saturday and Machines Like Me, or Graham Swift’s Ever After, and films such as Ammonite, Creation, Ex Machina, Gattaca, Human Nature, Jurassic Park/World, Man to Man or The Island come to mind. In the process, we will try to link this pervasive presence of Darwin(ism) to the broader phenomenon of Neo-Victorianism.
Semester: WT 2022/23