Strange Science: Investigating the Limits of Knowledge in the Victorian Age - Hardcover

Karpenko, Lara Pauline; Claggett, Shalyn Rae

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 047213017X ISBN 13: 9780472130177

Publisher: The University of Michigan Press, 2016

Synopsis

The essays in Strange Science examine marginal, fringe, and unconventional forms of scientific inquiry, as well as their cultural representations, in the Victorian period. Although now relegated to the category of the pseudoscientific, fields like mesmerism and psychical research captured the imagination of the Victorian public. Conversely, many branches of science now viewed as uncontroversial, such as physics and botany, were often associated with unorthodox methods of inquiry. Whether ultimately incorporated into mainstream scientific thought or categorized by 21st century historians as pseudo- or even anti-scientific, these sciences generated conversation, enthusiasm, and controversy within Victorian society. To date, scholarship addressing Victorian pseudoscience tends to focus either on a particular popular science within its social context or on how mainstream scientific practice distinguished itself from more contested forms. Strange Science takes a different approach by placing a range of sciences in conversation with one another and examining the similar unconventional methods of inquiry adopted by both now-established scientific fields and their marginalized counterparts during the Victorian period. In doing so, Strange Science reveals the degree to which scientific discourse of this period was radically speculative, frequently attempting to challenge or extend the apparent boundaries of the natural world. This interdisciplinary collection will appeal to scholars in the fields of Victorian literature, cultural studies, the history of the body, and the history of science.

About this title

About the Author

Lara Karpenko is Associate Professor of English at Carroll University.
Shalyn Claggett is Associate Professor of English at Mississippi State University.

Edition details

• Publisher: The University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 047213017X
• ISBN 13: 9780472130177
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 312