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