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Modernist Physics
Waves, Particles, and Relativities in the Writings of Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence
«...[a] diligent, thoughtful and articulate study...»
Jeff Wallace, Cardiff Metropolitan University, D.H. Lawrence Review
Modernist Physics takes as its focus the ideas associated with three scientific papers published by Albert Einstein in 1905, considering the dissemination of those ideas both within and beyond the scientific field, and exploring the manifestation of similar ideas in the literary works of Virginia Woolf and D. Les mer
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Modernist Physics takes as its focus the ideas associated with three scientific papers published by Albert Einstein in 1905, considering the dissemination of those ideas both within and beyond the scientific field, and exploring the manifestation of similar ideas in the literary works of Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence. Drawing on Gillian Beer's suggestion that literature and science 'share the moment's discourse', Modernist Physics seeks both to
combine and to distinguish between the two standard approaches within the field of literature and science: direct influence and the zeitgeist.
The book is divided into three parts, each of which focuses on the ideas associated with one of Einstein's papers. Part I considers Woolf in relation to Einstein's paper on light quanta, arguing that questions of duality and complementarity had a wider cultural significance in the early twentieth century than has yet been acknowledged, and suggesting that Woolf can usefully be considered a complementary, rather than a dualistic, writer. Part II looks at Lawrence's reading of at least one book
on relativity in 1921, and his subsequent suggestion in Fantasia of the Unconscious that 'we are in sad need of a theory of human relativity', a theory which is shown to be relevant to Lawrence's writing of relationships both before and after 1921. Part III considers Woolf and Lawrence together
alongside late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century discussions of molecular physics and crowd psychology, suggesting that Einstein's work on Brownian motion provides a useful model for thinking about individual literary characters.
combine and to distinguish between the two standard approaches within the field of literature and science: direct influence and the zeitgeist.
The book is divided into three parts, each of which focuses on the ideas associated with one of Einstein's papers. Part I considers Woolf in relation to Einstein's paper on light quanta, arguing that questions of duality and complementarity had a wider cultural significance in the early twentieth century than has yet been acknowledged, and suggesting that Woolf can usefully be considered a complementary, rather than a dualistic, writer. Part II looks at Lawrence's reading of at least one book
on relativity in 1921, and his subsequent suggestion in Fantasia of the Unconscious that 'we are in sad need of a theory of human relativity', a theory which is shown to be relevant to Lawrence's writing of relationships both before and after 1921. Part III considers Woolf and Lawrence together
alongside late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century discussions of molecular physics and crowd psychology, suggesting that Einstein's work on Brownian motion provides a useful model for thinking about individual literary characters.
Detaljer
- Forlag
- Oxford University Press
- Innbinding
- Innbundet
- Språk
- Engelsk
- ISBN
- 9780198815976
- Utgivelsesår
- 2018
- Format
- 22 x 15 cm
- Priser
- Winner of Shortlisted for the British Society for Literature and Science Annual Book Prize.
Anmeldelser
«...[a] diligent, thoughtful and articulate study...»
Jeff Wallace, Cardiff Metropolitan University, D.H. Lawrence Review
«Crossland expertly demonstrates the centrality of physics to Woolf and Lawrence's construction... the fact that the reader is left with unanswered questions is in many ways an indication of the richness of Crossland's study; it indicates that the book has the potential to spark many future investigations.»
Catriona Livingstone, The Review of English Studies
«Crossland's book attests not only to the ongoing generative power of the new physics but also to the continued need for scholarship that is internally elegant and surprising. Moreover, in foregrounding and testing a process of inquiry, Crossland models methodological responsibility for an increasingly interdisciplinary field. To assess the book in the terms it offers, Modernist Physics thoroughly engages several disciplines in order "to overwrite, while still expressing, [their] difference" (44). While this book would be worth reading just for its clear explana-tions and historical framing of concepts that reimagined the universe, Crossland has also made an enthralling contribution to modernist studies and Woolf scholarship.»
Margaret Greaves, Woolf Studies Annual
«Modernist Physics is framed by thought-provoking examinations of the function and concerns of literature and science as a field of study, in which Crossland painstakingly examines a variety of critical models around the issues of chronology, influence, shared discourse, and the challenges posed by the inherent interdisciplinarity of modernism itself.»
Rachel Fountain Eames, The British Society for Literature and Science