The Victorian novels of Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and others have been characterized as having lapsed plotlines, endless digressions, and an obsessive devotion to background characters. But, as Henry James asked, what do these elements mean artistically?
The Physics of Possibility answers this question by charting a thirty-year span when the mathematics of chance transformed the physical sciences of the mid-nineteenth century. Michael Tondre shows that what might be considered literary ""weaknesses"" actually reflect a reorientation of the basic formal categories of object, action, and setting in investigations of chance within Victorian physical science and mathematics. Novelists cultivated a common vernacular with this new science, inventing shared doctrines of realism.
Using an interdisciplinary method grounded in close readings of specific texts and archival materials, and drawing on science studies, philosophy, object theories, and cultural history, The Physics of Possibility interprets innovations across different forms of writing, tracing a trajectory from a handful of mathematically -minded savants in 1850 to a shared understanding of fiction as a vehicle devoted to the production of possible worlds.
| ISBN: | 9780813941455 |
| Publication date: | 30th July 2018 |
| Author: | Michael Tondre |
| Publisher: | University of Virginia Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 248 pages |
| Series: | Victorian Literature and Culture Series |
| Genres: |
Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 Literary companions, book reviews and guides Literary studies: general History |
The Victorian novels of Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and others have been characterized as having lapsed plotlines, endless digressions, and an obsessive devotion to background characters. But, as Henry James asked, what do these elements mean artistically?
The Physics of Possibility answers this question by charting a thirty-year span when the mathematics of chance transformed the physical sciences of the mid-nineteenth century. Michael Tondre shows that what might be considered literary ""weaknesses"" actually reflect a reorientation of the basic formal categories of object, action, and setting in investigations of chance within Victorian physical science and mathematics. Novelists cultivated a common vernacular with this new science, inventing shared doctrines of realism.
Using an interdisciplinary method grounded in close readings of specific texts and archival materials, and drawing on science studies, philosophy, object theories, and cultural history, The Physics of Possibility interprets innovations across different forms of writing, tracing a trajectory from a handful of mathematically -minded savants in 1850 to a shared understanding of fiction as a vehicle devoted to the production of possible worlds.
The Physics of Possibility features in the following genres: Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, Literary companions, book reviews and guides, Literary studies: general, History
The Physics of Possibility is available in Hardback
The Physics of Possibility was written by Michael Tondre and published by University of Virginia Press
The Physics of Possibility has 248 pages
Yes it is part of Victorian Literature and Culture Series series