George Eliot and Nineteenth-Century Science: The Make-Believe of a Beginning

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CUP Archive, Mar 12, 1987 - Literary Criticism - 272 pages
This study explores the ways in which George Eliot's involvement with contemporary scientific theory affected the evolution of her fiction. Drawing on the work of such theorists as Comte, Spencer, Lewes, Bain, Carpenter, von Hartmann and Bernard, Dr Shuttleworth shows how, as Eliot moved from Adam Bede to Daniel Deronda, her conception of a conservative, static and hierarchical model of society gave way to a more dynamic model of social and psychological life.

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Contents

The rise of organic theory
1
Natural history as social vision
24
The shadowy armies of the unconscious
51
A divided Eden 78
81
The authority of history
96
Social and sexual politics
115
An experiment in time
142
Fragmentation and organic union
175
Conclusion
201
Notes
207
Bibliography
233
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