Reflecting on Darwin

Monika Pietrzak-Franger is Assistant Professor at TU Braunschweig, Germany, Barbara Schaff is Professor for English Language and Culture at Göttingen University, Germany, and Eckart Voigts is Professor for English Literature and Culture at TU Braunschweig, Germany.

Taking up the historical evolution of Darwin and his theories and the cultural responses they have inspired, this collection looks at Darwin's influence on contemporary media, neo-Victorian literature and culture, science fiction literature and film, and contemporary theory. By examining the plurality of ways in which Darwin has been rewritten and reappropriated, this unique volume both mirrors and inspects the complexity of recent debates in Victorian and neo-Victorian studies.

Introduction, MonikaPietrzak-Franger, EckartVoigts; Part 1 The Cultural Evolution of Darwin¿s Thought; Chapter 1 `I differ widely from yoü, AngeliqueRichardson; Chapter 2 Evolution, Heredity and Visuality, SusanneScholz; Chapter 3 `How like us is that ugly brute, the ape!¿, JochenPetzold; Chapter 4 Gender Trouble as Monkey Business, JulikaGriem; Part 2 Darwin¿s Cultural Resonance Today; Chapter 5 Neo-Victorian Darwin, AnnHeilmann; Chapter 6 (Mis-)Representations of Darwin¿s Origin and Evolutionary Master Narratives in The Sea (2005) and The Secret Scripture (2008), Felix C.H.Sprang; Chapter 7 Evolution for Better or for Worse?, AngelaSchwarz; Part 3 Darwin as `Pop Star¿ of Contemporary Theory; Chapter 8 Displacing Humans, Reconfiguring Darwin in Contemporary Culture and Theory, VirginiaRichter; Chapter 9 Ordering Darwin, NilsWilkinson; Chapter 10 The Limits of Sociobiology, MathiasGutmann; Chapter 11 `Survival of the Fittest¿ in Darwinian Metaphysics, Mommevon Sydow;