• “These Things Are a Parable”: Natural History Metaphors and Audience in Felix Holt (1866)

    Author(s):
    Lila Marz Harper (see profile)
    Date:
    2019
    Group(s):
    LLC Victorian and Early-20th-Century English, TC Science and Literature, TC Women’s and Gender Studies
    Subject(s):
    Eliot, George, 1819-1880, Natural history, Metaphor
    Item Type:
    Book chapter
    Tag(s):
    charles darwin, thomas huxley, natural selection, George Eliot, Evolution
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/j2js-ts50
    Abstract:
    It is apparent that George Eliot’s novels were heavily engaged with development in natural history; her metaphors made use of and reflected on mid-1800s discussions of evolution and taxonomy. In this essay, research in science history and Eliot studies leads to evidence of how, in Felix Holt (1866), Eliot was influenced by evolutionary scientists, particularly Darwin and Huxley, in her fictional examination of how individuals struggle within a small isolated society. At the same time, Eliot’s discussion of the strengths and weakness of metaphors was also a direct engagement with Darwin and Huxley on the topic of how metaphors should be used in scientific writings.
    Notes:
    Bicentennial publication in honor of George Eliot's birth. This is a draft version, not the final version.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Book chapter     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.1007/978-3-030-10626-3_7
    Publisher:
    Springer International Publishing
    Pub. Date:
    2019-3-9
    Book Title:
    George Eliot
    Author/Editor:
    Lila Marz Harper
    Page Range:
    139 - 164
    ISBN:
    9783030106256
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    3 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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