The Descent of Man:
Darwin's Shadow on the Victorian Imagination
Darwin's Shadow on the Victorian Imagination
Charles Darwin's On The Origin of Species shook the foundations of Christian philosophy and led to a crisis of ideology. Writers and thinkers began to voice the uncomfortable possibility that, subject to the general laws of evolution, humanity was just as likely to degenerate as to progress.
On the Beagle with Darwin in 1831 were three Fuegian Indians returning to their homeland, Tierra del Fuego. These so-called savages had been plucked from the wild and had spent three years in England being 'civilized'. While in England, they were treated with courtesy and presented to the King and Queen.
Fifty years later, similar groups of Fuegian Indians were exhibited in Berlin and London as 'wild beasts', while their kinsmen in Tierra del Fuego were being hunted to extinction. What had happened in the meantime to change society's perception of the savage? To what extent did Darwin's Origin of Species and The Descent of Man inadvertently fuel European fears of degeneration?
The speaker will explore these ideas in English contemporary literature, and particularly in the works of Charles Kingsley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Hardy, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Joseph Conrad and H G Wells.
About the speaker
Marie-Louise Luxemburg studied English Literature at Warwick University and worked in art and educational publishing. She is editor of the BRLSI Proceedings and chair of BRLSI programme sub committee. She has given several lectures at the Institution, notably:
Faith & Gender: from Eve the temptress to subversive angel
Hannah More: a Vindication
Fanny Burney: Life inspiring Art.
She is currently writing an historical novel entitled Fragments of Indigo, which explores the plight of the French indigo planters - the 'other' Europeans living in India under the British Raj during the period 1830-1858.
On the Beagle with Darwin in 1831 were three Fuegian Indians returning to their homeland, Tierra del Fuego. These so-
Fifty years later, similar groups of Fuegian Indians were exhibited in Berlin and London as 'wild beasts', while their kinsmen in Tierra del Fuego were being hunted to extinction. What had happened in the meantime to change society's perception of the savage? To what extent did Darwin's Origin of Species and The Descent of Man inadvertently fuel European fears of degeneration?
The speaker will explore these ideas in English contemporary literature, and particularly in the works of Charles Kingsley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Hardy, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Joseph Conrad and H G Wells.
About the speaker
Marie-
Hannah More: a Vindication
Fanny Burney: Life inspiring Art.
She is currently writing an historical novel entitled Fragments of Indigo, which explores the plight of the French indigo planters -
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LITERATURE PROGRAMME LECTURE - APRIL 21 2009
Marie-Louise Luxemburg: Darwin’s Origin Of Species led writers and thinkers to voice uncomfortable possibilities about the evolutionary future of humankind.
Marie-Louise Luxemburg