
The Earth on Show
Fossils and the Poetics of Popular Science, 1802-1856
Ralph O'Connor(Author)
University of Chicago Press
Will be published approx. on 1. December 2007
Book
Hardback
542 pages
978-0-226-61668-1 (ISBN)
Description
At the turn of the nineteenth century, geology - and its claims that the earth had a long and colorful prehuman history - was widely dismissed as dangerous nonsense. But just fifty years later, it was the most celebrated of Victorian sciences. Ralph O'Connor tracks the astonishing growth of geology's prestige in Britain, exploring how a new geohistory far more alluring than the standard six days of Creation was assembled and sold to the wider Biblereading public. Savvy science writer, O'Connor shows, marketed spectacular visions of past worlds, piquing the public imagination with glimpses of man-eating mammoths, talking dinosaurs, and sea-dragons spawned by Satan himself. These authors - including men of science, women, clergymen, biblical literalists, hack writers, blackmailers, and prophets - borrowed freely from the Bible, modern poetry, and the urban entertainment industry, creating new forms of literature in order to transport their readers into a vanished and alien past. In exploring the use of poetry and spectacle in the promotion of popular science, O'Connor proves that geology's success owed much to the literary techniques of its authors.
An innovative blend of the history of science, literary criticism, book history, and visual culture, "The Earth on Show" rethinks the relationship between geology and literature in the nineteenth century.
An innovative blend of the history of science, literary criticism, book history, and visual culture, "The Earth on Show" rethinks the relationship between geology and literature in the nineteenth century.
Reviews / Votes
"The Earth on Show is an intelligent, imaginatively conceived, and impressively original piece of work. Ralph O'Connor's topic is important, and his range of research is broad. It is certain to constitute an important contribution to the understanding of nineteenth-century British science, and of Victorian culture more generally." - Harriet Ritvo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology"More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United States
Publishing group
The University of Chicago Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 26 mm
Width: 19 mm
Thickness: 4 mm
Weight
1162 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-226-61668-1 (9780226616681)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
09/2008
1st Edition
University of Chicago Press
€58.39
Available for download
Person
Ralph O'Connor is a lecturer in Irish-Scottish studies in the Department of History at the University of Aberdeen.