Useful Knowledge: The Victorians, Morality, and the March of IntellectNineteenth-century England witnessed an unprecedented increase in the number of publications and institutions devoted to the creation and the dissemination of knowledge: encyclopedias, scientific periodicals, instruction manuals, scientific societies, children’s literature, mechanics’ institutes, museums of natural history, and lending libraries. In Useful Knowledge Alan Rauch presents a social, cultural, and literary history of this new knowledge industry and traces its relationships within nineteenth-century literature, ending with its eventual confrontation with Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species. Rauch discusses both the influence and the ideology of knowledge in terms of how it affected nineteenth-century anxieties about moral responsibility and religious beliefs. Drawing on a wide array of literary, scientific, and popular works of the period, the book focusses on the growing importance of scientific knowledge and its impact on Victorian culture. From discussions of Jane Webb Loudon’s The Mummy! and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, to Charlotte Brontë’s The Professor, Charles Kingsley’s Alton Locke, and George Eliot’s Mill on the Floss, Rauch paints a fascinating picture of nineteenth-century culture and addresses issues related to the proliferation of knowledge and the moral issues of this time period. Useful Knowledge touches on social and cultural anxieties that offer both historical and contemporary insights on our ongoing preoccupation with knowledge. Useful Knowledge will appeal to readers interested in nineteenth century history, literature, culture, the mediation of knowledge, and the history of science. |
From inside the book
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Page 12
... humans ) were subject to the physical forces of nature and , of course , to each other . Combined with new perspectives on space , time , and matter , this view removed man from centrality in the universe . The age - old idea that man ...
... humans ) were subject to the physical forces of nature and , of course , to each other . Combined with new perspectives on space , time , and matter , this view removed man from centrality in the universe . The age - old idea that man ...
Page 15
... human understanding and scientific discovery . Science was particularly problematic as it gained a posi- tion of authority within the culture . For those who adhered staunchly to religion as the basis of all understanding , the problem ...
... human understanding and scientific discovery . Science was particularly problematic as it gained a posi- tion of authority within the culture . For those who adhered staunchly to religion as the basis of all understanding , the problem ...
Page 19
... humanity , in order to pursue science for its own sake ( not to mention for the sake of self - glorification ) is the scientist's alone . Shelley attacks self - indulgence and the notion of scientific prerogative by challenging them ...
... humanity , in order to pursue science for its own sake ( not to mention for the sake of self - glorification ) is the scientist's alone . Shelley attacks self - indulgence and the notion of scientific prerogative by challenging them ...
Page 20
... Eliot focuses our attention on the very elements that Kingsley tries to ignore : the existence of natural laws that have nothing to do with human or super- natural will . Maggie and Tom are not permitted the [ 20 ] USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.
... Eliot focuses our attention on the very elements that Kingsley tries to ignore : the existence of natural laws that have nothing to do with human or super- natural will . Maggie and Tom are not permitted the [ 20 ] USEFUL KNOWLEDGE.
Page 21
... human action in the world . Although Eliot's is the only " godless " world that I discuss , her insistence that human intellect and moral responsibility must continue to have a place in society is consistent with all the novels being ...
... human action in the world . Although Eliot's is the only " godless " world that I discuss , her insistence that human intellect and moral responsibility must continue to have a place in society is consistent with all the novels being ...
Contents
Food for Thought The Dissemination of Knowledge in the Early Nineteenth Century | 22 |
Science in the Popular Novel Jane Webb Loudons The Mummy | 60 |
The Monstrous Body of Knowledge Mary Shelleys Frankenstein | 96 |
Lessons Learned in Class Charlotte Brontës The Professor | 129 |
The Tailor Transformed Charles Kingsleys Alton Locke | 164 |
Other editions - View all
Useful Knowledge: The Victorians, Morality, and the March of Intellect Alan Rauch Limited preview - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
Aldini Alton Locke argues Britannica Cambridge University Press character Charles Kingsley Charlotte Brontë Chartist Chicago Press children's literature concern contemporary context creature Crimsworth culture Darwin death Dictionary Discourse edge Edinburgh Edric encyclopedia Encyclopédie England English Essays fact female fiction figure Floss Frances Franken Frankenstein galvanism George Eliot George Levine growth of knowledge Harmondsworth human Hunsden ideas impact important improvement individual intellectual interest Jane Jane Webb Loudon John kind Kingsley's knowl knowledge texts learning Letters literary London Maggie Mary Shelley Mill mind monster moral mother Mummy narrative natural history natural theology notion novel Oxford University Press Patrick Brontë Penguin Percy Percy Shelley Philosophy phrenology political popular Professor readers reading religion responsibility Robert Sarah Trimmer scientific scientist SDUK sense Shelley's social society spirit suggest Thomas Thomas Telford tion traditional transformation underscores understanding Victor Victorian William writes York young