Book ID: CBB071153620

Charles Darwin’s Debt to the Romantics: How Alexander von Humboldt, Goethe and Wordsworth Helped Shape Darwin’s View of Nature (2018)

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This book argues that the Romantic movement influenced Charles Darwin and his theory of natural selection. Given that Darwin has traditionally been placed within Victorian naturalism, these Romantic connections have often been overlooked. The volume traces specific examples of Darwin’s reliance on the Romantics – such as Alexander von Humboldt’s Personal Narrative, which he took with him on the Beagle, and the poetry of William Wordsworth, discussed in his notebooks – and explores correlations in Darwin’s own writings. When Darwin refers to the «archetype» in Origin, could he be drawing on Goethe’s own use of the concept? And how to explain his description of all poetry as creating a feeling of «nausea»? In addition to these key figures, the book also explores the possible influence of Darwin’s own grandfather, Erasmus Darwin. The book cleverly follows Darwin’s form of the narrative in a search for traces of history in both science and poetry, inspired by the unique imagination of Darwin himself.

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Reviewed By

Review Bárbara Jiménez (2019) Review of "Charles Darwin’s Debt to the Romantics: How Alexander von Humboldt, Goethe and Wordsworth Helped Shape Darwin’s View of Nature". British Journal for the History of Science (pp. 170-171). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB071153620/

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Authors & Contributors
Goldstein, Amanda Jo
Maria Enrica D'Agostini
Robert Ready
Schulz, Roland
Bridget E. Kapler
Michael Dee
Concepts
Romanticism
Science and literature
Nature
Poetry and poetics
Science and culture
Natural history
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
Enlightenment
20th century, early
17th century
Places
Great Britain
Germany
France
England
British Isles
Soviet Union
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