1. A.S. Byatt Angels and Insects
Science and Society in
Morpho Eugenia

2. A.S. Byatt (1936-) Broad literary and scientific interests
Bridges Victorian and
contemporary writing
‚self-conscious realist‘
Often merges naturalism, realism and fantasy

3. Byatt on the siginificance of science:
“We read science out of concern for our own health and environment. But I think we also read scientific books because they are the best way we now have of answering the perennial human need for understanding, contemplation of our place in the order of things, a sense of complexity and mystery, an inkling perhaps of the order of those things which are not ourselves.” (New Statesman, 10 April 200)

4. Science in the Victorian Period
Cultural dominance of the life sciences developing
Natural history most prominent
Theories still argued from historical record
Devoted to moral development
Closely connected with general philosophical interest

5. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829)
‘Transformist’:
believed that living organisms
develop into more complex
forms through the inheritance
of aquired characteristics

6. Robert Chambers: The Vestiges of Creation (1844)
‘Law of development’
Mankind has evolved
from the lower animals

7. Darwinism
Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (1859): Evolution by natural selection
Links geological record with a theory of species change
Evidence of shaping time-consciousness
in Victorian Period
A hypothesis  no scientific verification!

8. Idea of Natural Selection
organisms vary
their offspring can inherit these variations
variations may operate to the benefit of individuals

9. Implications for 19th century belief system
No divine creator
Man is put back into nature
Humans are no longer superior
Feeling of ‘disinheritance’
Loss of certainty

10. Reception Was easily absorbed
Demonstration of how the mind of a scientist worked
Helped to establish science as a culture
Imaginative narrative: comparable to other forms of narrative

11. Social Darwinism Biological Theories to interpret human communities
Biologist is concerned with general, philosophical explanation of the world
Used to legitimate the superiority of ‚the fittest‘

12. T H Huxley (1876) „Biology is the study of all phenomena exhibited by
living things.“
 licenses biologist's exploration of politics, philosophy or education

13. Herbert Spencer: ‘The Social Organism’ (1860)
"A social organism,like an
individual organism,
undergoes modifications until
it comes into equilibrium with
environing conditions; and
thereupon continues without further change of structure."

14. Degeneration
Pessimistic outlook for the future of Western civilization
A class of degenerate people may attack social norms
Justifications for attacks on modern art and for eugenic programs

15. Eugenics Usual social policies interfere with natural selection
Human reproduction must be monitored
‚genius‘ and ‚talent‘ are hereditary
Selective breeding must be considered for human reproduction

16. Science and Literature in the Victorian Period
Increasing market for popularized versions of scientific knowledge
Mutual creative exchange of scientists and novelists
Imagination occupies a crucial role for knowledge

17. ‘Two cultures’ debate Huxley: Only life science reveals truth
Struggle to establish science in education
Huxley: Only life science reveals truth
Arnold: Knowledge must refer to Classical Literature