ENG 346: 19th-Century Literature: Victorian

Exploring Thomas Huxley's relationships with his wife, fellow naturalists, clergymen and men of letters, White presents a new analysis of the authority of science, literature, and religion during the Victorian period, showing how these different practices were woven into a fabric of high culture, and integrated into institutions of print, education and research. He provides a substantially different view of Huxley's role in the evolution debates, and of his relations with his scientific contemporaries.

Adrian Desmond’s fiery biography with its panoramic view of Dickensian life explains how this agent provocateur rose to become the century’s greatest prophet. Synoptic in its sweep and evocative in its details, Desmond’s biography reveals the poverty and opium-hazed tragedies of young Tom Huxley’s life as well as the accolades and triumphs of his later years. Touching the crowning achievements and the crushing depths of both the man and his times, this is the epic story of a courageous genius.

Includes relevant chapter: "Thomas Henry Huxley and Richard Owen: or, Darwin's Bulldog and the Queer Fish"