Skip to content
Register Sign in Wishlist
Look Inside Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science

Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science
The Aesthetics of Astronomy

  • Author: Holly Henry, California State University, San Bernardino
  • Date Published: September 2009
  • availability: Available
  • format: Paperback
  • isbn: 9780521119870

Paperback

Add to wishlist

Other available formats:
Hardback


Looking for an inspection copy?

Please email [email protected] to enquire about an inspection copy of this book

Description
Product filter button
Description
Contents
Resources
Courses
About the Authors
  • Holly Henry investigates how advances in astronomy in the early twentieth century had a shaping effect on Woolf's literature and aesthetics as well as on the work of modernist British writers including Vita Sackville-West, H. G. Wells, Olaf Stapledon, Bertrand Russell, and T. S. Eliot. The 1920s and 30s witnessed a pervasive public fascination with astronomy that extended from the US, where Edwin Hubble in 1923 definitively determined that entire galaxies existed beyond the Milky Way, to England, where London's intellectuals discussed Sir James Jeans's popular astronomy books and the newly explored expanses of space. In re-evaluating the cultural context out of which Modernism emerged, Henry contends that Woolf, through her own fascination with astronomy, formulated a global vision that helped shape her fiction and her pacifist politics. Henry's study includes examinations of scientific and literary archival material and sheds light on Woolf's texts and recent re-evaluations of Modernism.

    • Combines research of, until its first publication in 2003, unpublished literary and scientific papers and correspondence with literary readings of Woolf's texts
    • Offers a lively investigation of the public response to the increasingly important field of astronomy in the 1920s
    • Well illustrated
    Read more

    Reviews & endorsements

    Review of the hardback: '… provides important new cultural and popular contexts in which to read Woolf'. Yearbook of English Studies

    Review of the paperback: 'This enthralling and well-researched book sets Virginia Woolf and her work in the context of popular imaginings of astronomy, relativity, politics and social justice during the first third of the twentieth century. A particular strength of Holly Henry's work is her thoroughgoing archival research into James Jeans's papers and papers concerned with Edwin Hubble.' Virginia Woolf Bulletin

    See more reviews

    Customer reviews

    Not yet reviewed

    Be the first to review

    Review was not posted due to profanity

    ×

    , create a review

    (If you're not , sign out)

    Please enter the right captcha value
    Please enter a star rating.
    Your review must be a minimum of 12 words.

    How do you rate this item?

    ×

    Product details

    • Date Published: September 2009
    • format: Paperback
    • isbn: 9780521119870
    • length: 224 pages
    • dimensions: 229 x 152 x 13 mm
    • weight: 0.34kg
    • availability: Available
  • Table of Contents

    List of illustrations
    Preface
    Acknowledgments
    List of abbreviations
    Introduction: formulating a global aesthetic
    1. Stars and nebulae in popular culture
    2. From Edwin Hubble's telescope to Virginia Woolf's 'searchlight'
    3. 'Solid objects in a solid universe': the globe and Woolf's deployment of multiple perspectives
    4. 'Talk about the riddle of the universe': traversing the discourses of science and art in The Waves
    5. From galactic expanses to earth: Woolf and Stapledon envision new worlds
    6. Woolf's global vision: Three Guineas and the politics of science
    Bibliography
    Index.

  • Author

    Holly Henry, California State University, San Bernardino

Related Books

Sorry, this resource is locked

Please register or sign in to request access. If you are having problems accessing these resources please email [email protected]

Register Sign in
Please note that this file is password protected. You will be asked to input your password on the next screen.

» Proceed

You are now leaving the Cambridge University Press website. Your eBook purchase and download will be completed by our partner www.ebooks.com. Please see the permission section of the www.ebooks.com catalogue page for details of the print & copy limits on our eBooks.

Continue ×

Continue ×

Continue ×
warning icon

Turn stock notifications on?

You must be signed in to your Cambridge account to turn product stock notifications on or off.

Sign in Create a Cambridge account arrow icon
×

Find content that relates to you

Join us online

This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Read more Close

Are you sure you want to delete your account?

This cannot be undone.

Cancel

Thank you for your feedback which will help us improve our service.

If you requested a response, we will make sure to get back to you shortly.

×
Please fill in the required fields in your feedback submission.
×