Frankenstein to Einstein: Literature and Science in the Nineteenth Century

Frankenstein to Einstein:Literature and Science in the Nineteenth Century Hazel Hutchison

Frankenstein to Einstein • Aspirations: ambitions and key ideas • Practicalities: how does it work? • Abstractions: successes, problems and lessons to be learned across the curriculum

By the end of this course students will be able to: Read and appreciate a selection of literary texts engaging with scientific themes and interpret these against the cultural climate of the period. Read and understand a selection of contemporary source materials from the period and appreciate the cultural and political impact of these. Understand the literary techniques by which writers of the period engage with science. Appreciate the importance of cultural context in shaping scientific theory and practice. Understand the importance of literary texts and scientific writing in popularising science and widening the social debate on scientific developments. Discuss the connections between science and literature in the fiction, poetry and prose of the period. Handle complex issues concerning science and literature in the period both orally and in writing. Write, clearly, succinctly, grammatically and idiomatically. Target course outcomes

Course texts Mary Shelley, FrankensteinEdmund Gosse, Father and SonJoseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost WorldCharles Dickens, Hard TimesH. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's MinesEmile Zola, La Bête HumaineHenry James, In the CageH.G. Wells, The Time Machine Primary Sources Reader includes: Lavater, Buffon, Lyell, Darwin, Hugh Miller, Carlyle, Dickens, Spencer, Pearson, Einstein and others

Teaching across boundaries • Students enjoy diversity • But students need disciplines to develop intellectual skills • Same goes for staff • Structures change the way we work and think • Money matters

Frankenstein to Einstein: Literature and Science in the Nineteenth Century

Frankenstein to Einstein: Literature and Science in the Nineteenth Century

Presentation Transcript

Albert Einstein

Science: Determinism and Uncertainty

Transcendentalism

USING THE LITERATURE Finding and evaluating evidence and information

Three Major Nineteenth-century Political Ideologies

MULTIPLE CHOICE

The Rise of the City

1750-1914 Practice Essays

Not If, But When With two influenza pandemics in the 19 th Century and three in the 20 th Century, we’re due for ne

E NGLISH LITERATURE

Frankenstein

The Nineteenth century: B irth of the “-isms”

THE INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY

Frederic Chopin

The Heart of Literature

17 th – 18 th Century British History (1625 – 1798)

Nineteenth century: historical linguistics

A Look at Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Art and Movements

PERIODS OF BRITISH LITERATURE