Virginia Woolf and the study of nature
By: Christina Alt
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 229
ISBN-13: 9780521196550
Subjects: Life sciences; Knowledge; Criticism and interpretation; Life sciences in literature; Nature in literature; Natural history; Literature and science; History
Description: "Reflecting the modernist fascination with science, Virginia Woolf's representations of nature are informed by a wide-ranging interest in contemporary developments in the life sciences. Christina Alt analyses Woolf's responses to disciplines ranging from taxonomy and the new biology of the laboratory to ethology and ecology and illustrates how Woolf drew on the methods and objectives of the contemporary life sciences to describe her own literary experiments. Through the examination of Woolf's engagement with shifting approaches to the study of nature, this work covers new ground in Woolf studies and makes an important contribution to the understanding of modernist exchanges between literature and science"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The natural history tradition; 2. The modern life sciences; 3. 'To pin through the body with a name': Virginia Woolf and the taxonomic tradition; 4. Laboratory coats and field glasses: Virginia Woolf and the modern study of nature; 5. Representing 'the manner of our seeing': literary experimentation and scientific analogy; Bibliography; Notes.