Uncommon Contexts: Encounters Between Science and Literature, 1800-1914 - (Sci & Culture in the Nineteenth Century) (Paperback)

About the Book

Britain in the long nineteenth century developed an increasing interest in science of all kinds. Whilst poets and novelists took inspiration from technical and scientific innovations, those directly engaged in these new disciplines relied on literary techniques to communicate their discoveries to a wider audience. The essays in this collection uncover this symbiotic relationship between literature and science, at the same time bridging the disciplinary gulf between the history of science and literary studies. Specific case studies include the engineering language used by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the role of physiology in the development of the sensation novel and how mass communication made people lonely.

Book Synopsis

Britain in the long nineteenth century developed an increasing interest in science of all kinds. Whilst poets and novelists took inspiration from technical and scientific innovations, those directly engaged in these new disciplines relied on literary techniques to communicate their discoveries to a wider audience. The essays in this collection uncover this symbiotic relationship between literature and science, at the same time bridging the disciplinary gulf between the history of science and literary studies. Specific case studies include the engineering language used by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the role of physiology in the development of the sensation novel and how mass communication made people lonely.

Review Quotes

A methodologically innovative and hugely interesting contribution to the rich seam of historicist Literature and Science studies . . . a valuable addition to Pickering & Chatto's 'Science and Culture in the Nineteenth Century' series.-- "Isis"

The contributions collectively explore and analyze a wide range of manifestations of the mutual engagement of literature and science during the longer nineteenth century.-- "Metascience"

The essays here--indispensable examples of how to think about the genres of science communication--therefore have a significance that goes beyond the long nineteenth century . . . deserves to be widely read, and not just by students of nineteenth-century science and literature.-- "Annals of Science"