GEORGE ELIOT AND DARWINISM
GEORGE ELIOT AND DARWINISM
Author(s): Victor OlaruSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Editura Universitaria Craiova
Keywords: Darwinism; mentality change; Victorian fiction; George Eliot; Middlemarch.
Summary/Abstract: However much were 19th century British intellectuals interested in science based on methodological research, Darwin‟s The Origin of Species (1859) took them by surprise and produced great changes in the period‟s mentality. His work shaped the course of Victorian scientific, theological and artistic thought, determining various direct or indirect reactions with most major poets and fiction writers of the late Victorian period, George Eliot included. This article attempts to emphasize Eliot‟s engagement with Darwin‟s theory, demonstrating the importance of science in such a novel as Middlemarch. Reference is also made to other Eliot writings: Silas Marner, Adam Bede, Daniel Daronda, and The Mill on the Floss.
Journal: Annals of the University of Craiova, Series: Philology, English
- Issue Year: 2/2014
- Issue No: XV
- Page Range: 59-69
- Page Count: 11
- Language: English