English 76-231 Section A
19th Century British Lit: Science and Culture in the 19th
Century
Spring 2004
MWF: 2:30-3:20 PM
126A Porter Hall
Professor: Michael Rectenwald
Office: 1604B Newell-Simon Hall
E-mail: mdr2@cs.cmu.edu
Phone: 8-5922
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 5-6 PM and by Appointment
Website: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mdr2
Required Texts
Course Packets I & II
Eliot, George, Middlemarch, Rosemary Ashton, ed. (New York: Penguin,
2003).
Otis, Laura, ed., Literature and Science in the Nineteenth Century: An
Anthology, (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).
Shelly, Mary Wollstonecraft, Frankenstein: The 1818 Text Contexts,
Nineteenth-Century Responses, Modern Criticism (A Norton Critical
Edition, Hunter, Paul J. (London and New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, 1996).
Note: We will read excerpts of Middlemarch only, not the whole book!)
Films (viewed during class time):
Ada Byron Lovelace: To Dream Tomorrow. Dir. John Fuegi and Jo Francis. Videocasette.
Prod. SBS-TV, Australia, 2003.
The Bride of Frankenstein. Dir. James Whale. Videocassete. Prod. Carl Laemmle, Jr.
Dist. Universal Pictures, 1999.
Frankenstein: The Man Who Made a Monster. Dir. James Whale. Videocassette. Prod.
Carl Laemmle, Jr.. Dist. Universal Pictures, 1999.
In Search of History: Frankenstein. Videocassette. The History Channel/A&E Prod.
Middlemarch. Dir. Anthony Page. Videocassette. Dist. BBC Video, 2000.
Course Description
For most of the 19th century, the humanities and the sciences were not clearly distinct.
The intellectual and professional terrain was not neatly divided between “science” on the
one hand and “humanities” and “social sciences” on the other. Rather, participants took
part in ongoing collaborations and discussion that included science, literature, the arts,
education, and politics. Some historians have considered the first three quarters of the
19th century remarkable for its “common intellectual or cultural context” or “public
sphere.” This course will explore the early to late 19th century, noting the convergences
and eventual divergences of science and culture across several distinct yet overlapping
public spheres.
Beginning with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), and filmic renderings thereof,
other objects of study include Richard Carlile, An Address to Men of Science (1821);
[Robert Chambers], Vestiges of the History of Natural Creation (1844); Charles
Kingsley, Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet (1850) (selections); Charles Darwin, Origin of
Species (1859); and George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871). We finally arrive at the heated
science and culture debates between Matthew Arnold and Thomas Huxley and end with
C.P. Snow’s notion of the “two cultures” (1959). Unless otherwise noted, we will read
the novels and shorter works in their entirety, and excerpts of the major science works.
The course includes a few secondary readings and several films. Assignments include
one short paper, one longer paper, and an oral presentation.
Attendance
Since this is a discussion/lecture class, attendance is mandatory. You are allowed three unexcused
absences without penalty—once you miss a fourth class, however, your grade in the class may
begin to drop by half-a-letter grade per absence.
If you have extenuating circumstances that could affect your attendance throughout the semester
(such as illness or a family emergency), it is your responsibility to notify me about your situation
and to get some sort of authoritative documentation to excuse your absences (usually from the
Dean, your adviser, or doctor). If you miss more than the allotted days due to your situation, we
will discuss whether it’s prudent for you to continue in the course.
If you miss a class meeting, you are responsible to contact your peers for materials and
information you’ve missed. Thus, it is your responsibility to keep on top of the homework.
Missing a class is no excuse for not completing an assignment. Likewise, I expect you to have
read the assigned readings and to be ready to discuss them, even if you were absent the class
before. This is a discussion class, so consider your readings just as important as any written
homework you have. I call on people in class discussion, and it’s embarrassing (for you and for
me) to have to announce to the class that you haven’t done the reading.
Academic Integrity
Taking someone else’s words, ideas or concepts, and using them without citing your source, is
plagiarism. So is using another student’s essay, or part of his or her essay, as your own. In the
world of writing (academic writing especially), this is a serious crime, and is treated as such.
Anyone who plagiarizes or includes non-documented material from another source (including
online sources) will receive a failing grade for the entire course and will be referred to the Dean’s
office for possible further disciplinary action.
We will discuss how to define plagiarism in this course, and if you have any questions, always
feel free to ask me. It’s been my experience that those writers who plagiarize are those who feel
overwhelmed by the assignment and out of desperation, use someone else’s work to stand in for
their own. If you get so frustrated with an assignment that you feel like your only option is to
plagiarize, come see me. My role as a teacher is to help students, not punish them—use me as a
resource to help you write, brainstorm or work out your essays. Please don’t plagiarize.
Deadlines
All written assignments must be submitted on the due date. The general rule is that I maintain the
right to refuse all late papers and assignments. If I do agree to accept a late paper, the lateness
will be dealt with in the following ways:
 For every day that a final draft is late, you will lose 1/2 a grade.
Religious Observance
If you have a conflict between a religious holiday and a graded assignment, please contact me in
advance so that we can make appropriate arrangements.
Learning Disability
If you have a learning disability that could impair your progress in this course, please contact
Larry Powell with Equal Opportunity Services on campus. We can arrange to accommodate your
learning style based on EOS recommendations.
Overview of Major Assignments
1. Five Page Mid-term paper:
a. This assignment involves a close reading of a primary text selection and
connection of the text to its context(s) using a vocabulary gained in course
readings and discussions to date.
b. You can select a novel, an essay, or a chapter or section of a science text
for this assignment.
c. Discuss topic with me if unclear or confused.
2. Oral Presentation of Final Paper Topic
a. I ask you to present the major contours of your final paper topic in class
during the last week of class. This talk allows you to air your main
argument and some of the supporting arguments before an audience. The
selection of your topic for this presentation is done in consultation with
me.
3. Eight to Ten Page Final Paper
a. For the final paper, I ask you to discuss an aspect of culture and science in
the 19th century by relating several texts to each other, and connecting
them in an analysis. The idea is to find a topic that relates to the
connection of science and culture in the period and to discuss it using
several primary texts and secondary texts.
b. The selection of your topic for this paper is done in consultation with me.
4. Discussion/Participation and a couple short write-ups
a. Since the class is a largely based on discussion, it is important that you
participate in class.
b. Your in-class participation grade falls to my discretion and can nudge a
borderline grade higher or lower.
c. You should be ready to participate in general class discussion.
General Guidelines on Submitting Assignments
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Please note that to receive a passing grade, you must hand in the two major papers and do
the presentation during the last week of class.
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All papers must be typed, double-spaced, with 1” margins.
Include page numbers on all assignments.
Carefully edit and proofread all texts to eliminate problems in grammar, spelling, and
punctuation.
Spell-check your documents. A hint in this regard: typos typically occur in the last
minutes when you are making final revisions to a text. Be sure, therefore, to always do a
final spell check on at least the section of the document in which you have been making
changes.
Any time you cite an essay, film, or book in your main essays, you will need to include a
Works Cited section of your essay that provides complete and accurate bibliographic
information of the material mentioned in your essay. If you’re not sure how to do this,
please consult the Citation Format Guideline in this course packet.
Documents that do not meet these and other assignment-specific requirements will not be
graded. They will be returned to you and when resubmitted will be treated as late
submissions, if accepted.
How Assignments Are Weighted for Your Grade
Assignments will count toward the final grade as indicated below. Assignments will be
graded on a point system, with grading criteria distributed with each assignment.
Five Page Mid-term Paper
Presentation of Final Paper Topic
Final Paper
Participation/Occasional Writing
30%
20%
40%
10%
Grading Policy and Scale
Final grades will be determined using the following point counts:
95–100 = A
85-94 = B
75-84 = C
65-74= D
below 65 = F
95-100 (A)
Superior work. Ideas are well planned and articulated with convincing
detail, and audience has been taken into consideration. Any errors in mechanics
are not noticeable.
85-94 (B)
Strong work with all assignment tasks met. There’s evidence of great
effort and thought in the essay. There are minor editing problems at most.
Note: The differences between a B and an A concern issues of originality,
excellence, thoroughness, and attention to detail. Although B grades may include
comments on sentence level editing, doing this type of editing would not be
sufficient to raise a B to an A.
75-84 (C)
Acceptable work, but the work is lacking some elements that would boost
it above the ordinary. No glaring conceptual or execution problems, but nothing
particularly outstanding in either department. Details may be somewhat limited,
and concepts may be ambiguously defined.
65-74 (D)
Acceptable, but well below average work. These assignments do not
move beyond broad generalizations and do little to explain core ideas. The
central focus may not be well articulated, and the prose may seem to ramble.
0- 64 (F)
Work is not of acceptable quality.
Note: CMU allows no plusses or minuses in final grades.
Course Calendar
Week One: Science and Culture, Part I: Frankenstein

Monday, 1/12
o Overview, explanation of course goals, policies, readings, and
assignments.
o Homework: Read
 Laura Otis, Introduction to Literature and Science in the
Nineteenth Century (hereafter referred to as L&S). This reading is
also included in Course Packet I in case you don’t buy the book
before the reading is due.
 George Levine, “One Culture: Science and Literature” (in Course
Packet I).

Wednesday, 1/14
o View Film: “In Search of History: Frankenstein.”
o Homework: Read
 The Preface and Text of Frankenstein, Volume One (through page
58)--students isolate excerpt(s) that they wish to discuss (esp. as
relating to science), write a short comment on it and bring written
comments to class.
 Anne K. Mellor, “Frankenstein: A Feminist Critique of Science”
(in Course Packet I).

Friday, 1/16
o Discuss Frankenstein and Mellor. Students discuss passages in
Frankenstein that they found interesting in terms of science and culture.
o Homework: Read
 Frankenstein, Volume Two (through page 101)
 Anne K. Mellor, “Possessing Nature: The Female in
Frankenstein,” in Frankenstein, pp. 274-286.
Week Two: Frankenstein, Cont’d.

Monday, 1/19
o Martin Luther King Day: No Class

Wednesday, 1/21
o Discuss Mellor and Volume Two of Frankenstein.
o Homework: Read
 Frankenstein to end
 Marilyn Butler, “Frankenstein and Radical Science,” pp. 302-313
in Frankenstein.

Friday, 1/23
o Discuss Butler and Volume Three. Wrap up Frankenstein.
o Homework: Read
 Richard Carlile, An Address to Men of Science (1821) (in Course
Packet I)
Week Three: “Radical Science”

Monday, 1/26
o Discuss Carlile: What is “Radical Science?” What makes this form of
science radical?
o Homework: Read
 Finish Carlile, Address.

Wednesday, 1/28
o Discuss Carlile.
o Homework: Read
 William Lawrence, from Lectures on Physiology and the Natural
History of Man, pp 13-24 (in Course Packet I). Note: This reading
is hard to make out. I did my best reproducing this rare text from
microfilm. My apologies for the difficulties.

Friday, 1/30
o Lawrence. From what you’ve read, what do you think was threatening or
radical about his Physiology? Wrap-up “Radical Science” segment.
o Homework: Read
 Thomas Peacock, “The Four Ages of Poetry” (1820)
 Recommended but not required: Alan Rauch, Intro and Chapter
One of Useful Knowledge (included in Course Packet I).
Week Four: Emerging Conflict: Science and Technology and the Challenge to
Classical Learning and Culture

Monday, 2/2
o How is knowledge being refigured by Peacock? Do you see an emergence
of conflict between literature and science/technology? How would you
characterize it?
o Homework: Read

Percy B. Shelley, “A Defence of Poetry” (1822) (in Course Packet
I), pp. 25-44.

Wednesday, 2/4
o Discuss Shelley.
o Homework: Read
 Shelley, 45 to end.

Friday, 2/6
o Discuss Shelley.
o Homework: Read
 David Bloor, “The Strong Programme in the Sociology of
Knowledge, from Knowledge and Social Imagery online at
http://www2.cs.cmu.edu/~mdr2/classes/fall2000/readings/Bloor.htm
Week Five: Early to Mid-Victorian Science, Literature and Religion

Monday, 2/9
o Discuss Bloor.
o Homework: Read
 Charles Lyell, from Principles of Geology (1830-3), in L&S, pp.
246-251.

Wednesday, 2/11
o Discuss Lyell and his Principles of Geology.
o Homework: Read
 Alfred Lord Tennyson, from In Memoriam (1833-1850), in L&S,
pp. 283-5 (full text is included in the Course Packet II for future
use, below)

Friday, 2/13
o Discuss Tennyson and Mattes
o Homework: Read
 Jean Baptiste Lamarck, from Zoological Philosophy (1809) in
L&S, pp. 246-252.
 Laura Otis, “Evolution,” pp. 235-240 in L&S.
Weeks Six: Victorian Science, Literature and Religion: Evolution

Monday, 2/16
o President’s Day: No Class
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Wednesday, 2/18
o Discuss Lamarck.
o Homework: Read
 [Robert Chambers], from Vestiges of the History of Natural
Creation (1844), online at
http://pages.britishlibrary.net/phrenology/vestiges/vestiges.htm
Print and Read Chapter 14, “Hypothesis of the Development of the
Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms, at
http://pages.britishlibrary.net/phrenology/vestiges/v14.htm (pp.
191-235). Print and bring to class!

Friday, 2/20
o Discuss Vestiges.
o Homework: Read
 Preface to Tennyson’s In Memoriam (in Course Packet II)
 Eleanor B. Mattes, “The Challenge of Geology to Belief in
Immortality and a God of Love” (in Course Packet II).
 Tennyson, In Memoriam, section 113 to end (in Course Packet II).
Week Seven: Evolution, Cont’d.

Monday, 2/23
o Discuss Tennyson. What does Tennyson do with Lyell, Vestiges,
evolution, “deep time”?
o Homework: Read
 Charles Darwin, from The Origin of Species (1859), pp. 258-267 in
L&S.

Wednesday, 2/25
o Discuss Origin. Compare and Contrast to Lamarck. What does Darwin
derive from Lyell?
o Homework: Read
 Herbert Spencer, from Principles of Biology (1864-7) in L&S, pp.
285-289.

Friday, 2/27
o Discuss Spencer.
o Homework: Read
 Ada Lovelace, from Sketch of the Analytical Engine (1843), in
L&S, pp. 15-19.
Week Eight: Women and 19th Century Science, Evolution, Etc.

Monday, 3/1
o View Film: “Ada Byron Lovelace: To Dream Tomorrow”
o Homework: Read:
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George Eliot, from The Mill on the Floss (1860) in L&S, pp. 267273.
Mid-Term Paper Due Next Class!
Wednesday, 3/3
o Discuss Lovelace.
o Mid-Term Paper Due!
o Homework: Read
 George Eliot, from Middlemarch (excerpts TBA).
 Nancy Paxton, from George Eliot and Herbert Spencer: Feminism,
Evolutionism, and the Reconstruction of Gender (in Course Packet
II).
Friday, 3/5
o Mid-Semester Break!
Week Nine: Spring Break!

Monday 3/8 – Friday 3/12 No Classes
Week Ten: Women and Science, Cont’d: Middlemarch
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Monday, 3/15
o Discuss Middlemarch
o Pass out Selective Bibliography on Middlemarch and Science.
o Begin viewing film: “Middlemarch.”
Wednesday, 3/17
o Continue viewing film: “Middlemarch.”
Friday, 3/19
o End viewing of “Middlemarch.”
o Homework: Read
 Thomas Huxley, from On the Physical Basis of Life in L&S, 273276.
 Frank M. Turner, “Victorian Scientific Naturalism,” from Between
Science and Religion (in Course Packet II).
Week Eleven: The New Naturalism

Monday, 3/22
o Discuss Huxley and Turner.
o Homework: Read
 John Tyndall, The Belfast Address (1874) (in Course Packet II).

Wednesday, 3/24
o Discuss Tyndall.
o Homework:
 Continue Reading The Belfast Address.

Friday, 3/26
o Discuss Tyndall. Wrap up New Naturalism Segment.
o Homework: Read
 Charles Southwell and William Chilton, from The Oracle of
Reason, “Theory of Regular Gradation” (in Course Packet II).
 Adrian Desmond, "Artisan resistance and evolution in Britain,
1819-1848" (in Course Packet II)
Week Twelve: “Popular Science” in the 19th Century

Monday, 3/29
o Discuss “Theory of Regular Gradation” and Desmond.
o Homework: Read
 George Combe, from Elements of Phrenology (1824).
 And Johann Spurzheim, from Phrenology in Connection with the
Study of Physiognomy (1826), pp. 377-386 in S&L.

Wednesday, 3/31
o Discuss Combe and Spurzheim
o Homework: Read
 George Holyoake, Secularism, the Philosophy of the People (1854)
(in Course Packet II).

Friday, 4/2
o Discuss Holyoake and Cooter. Wrap up “Popular Science” Segment.
o Homework: Read
 Thomas Huxley, “Science and Culture” from Science and Culture
(1880) (in Course Packet II)
 Proposals for final papers due next class. Bring in a typed, one
page proposal that outlines your chosen topic as you see it at
this point.
Week Thirteen: The Arnold-Huxley, Science and Culture Debates

Monday, 4/5
o Discuss Huxley.
o Paper Proposals Due.
o Homework: Read
 Matthew Arnold, "Literature and Science," from Discourses in
America (1885) (in Course Packet II).

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Wednesday, 4/7
o Discuss Arnold.
o Homework: Read:
 Stefan Collini, “The Two Cultures in Historical Perspective” from
the Introduction to The Two Cultures, by C.P. Snow.
Friday, 4/9
o Discuss Collini.
o Homework: Read
 C.P. Snow, The Two Cultures (1959), Chapters 1 and 2 (through
page 28) (in Course Packet II).
Week Fourteen: The Two Cultures

Monday, 4/12
o Discuss Snow, chapters 1 and 2.
o Homework: Read
 The Two Cultures, chapter 3 “The Scientific Revolution.”

Wednesday, 4/14
o Discuss Snow, chapter 3.
o Homework: Read
 The Two Cultures, chapter 4, “The Rich and the Poor.”

Friday, 4/16
o Discuss Snow, chapter 4. Wrap up Two Cultures.
Week Fifteen: Science in Popular Culture: Representations of Science in Popular
Culture

Monday, 4/19
o Discuss Renderings of Frankenstein
o Pass out bibliography on Frankenstein movies, myth, etc.
o Begin viewing “Frankenstein: the man who made a monster.”

Wednesday, 4/21
o Finish viewing “Frankenstein: the man who made a monster.”
o Begin viewing: “The Bride of Frankenstein.”

Friday, 4/23
o Finish viewing “The Bride of Frankenstein.”
Week Sixteen: Oral Presentations/Wrap Up

Monday, 4/26
o Finish any remaining film footage.
o Begin oral presentations

Wednesday, 4/28
o Oral Presentations

Friday, 4/30
o Oral Presentations
o Student Teacher Evaluations.
Friday, 5/7: Final Papers Due