Metaphor and Materiality
German Literature and the World-View of Science 1780-1955

Peter D. Smith

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Studies In Comparative Literature 4

Legenda

1 June 2000  •  384pp

ISBN: 1-900755-32-7 (paperback)  •  RRP £75, $99, €85

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Metaphor and Materiality explores the relationship between literature and science from the end of the eighteenth century to the Cold War. This wide-ranging study reveals how major works of German and Austrian literature reflect, manipulate and question contemporary scientific paradigms and metaphors. An introductory chapter discusses current approaches to the study of science, drawing on the work of Rorty, Kuhn and Toulmin amongst others. Subsequent chapters analyse in detail key literary works, setting them in a scientific and philosophical context: Goethe's Die Wahlverwandtschaften (1809), Büchner's Dantons Tod and Woyzeck (1835-7), Stifter's Kalkstein and Bergkristall (1853), Musil's Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß (1906), and Brecht's Leben des Galilei (1955). Peter Smith's argument, together with his extensive bibliography, will prove invaluable to researchers in the now very exacting interdisciplinary field of literature and science.

Peter D. Smith is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the German Department at University College London. He has published on Goethe's Faust and Alfred Döblin. His research focuses on scientific ideas in American literature and in European literature since 1600.

Reviews:

  • ‘Smith is able to show convincingly how ambivalence about the role of science or scientific tendencies permeates these literary works, and he offers interesting insights into the sometimes subtle thematization of scientific ideas in literature.’ — Elizabeth Neswald, British Journal for the History of Science 35, 2002, 363-4
  • ‘Smith's mastery of both primary and secondary sources is remarkable, and his bibliographies provide a useful guide to the (often vast) secondary literature... Demonstrates the extraordinary richness and importance of the vein of research into which Smith has tapped, and puts much other work in so-called Cultural Studies to shame.’ — Paul Bishop, Modern Language Review 97.2, 2002, 505-7 (full text online)
  • ‘In this thorough study of the exchange between science and literature, Peter D. Smith skillfully argues that the idea of these Two Cultures existing in isolation from one another is overly simplistic... An excellent contribution to the vital research currently examining the interdisciplinary nature of scientific and literary works.’ — Heather I. Sullivan, Monatshefte 94.4, 2002, 541-2

Bibliography entry:

Smith, Peter D., Metaphor and Materiality: German Literature and the World-View of Science 1780-1955, Studies In Comparative Literature, 4 (Legenda, 2000)

First footnote reference: 35 Peter D. Smith, Metaphor and Materiality: German Literature and the World-View of Science 1780-1955, Studies In Comparative Literature, 4 (Legenda, 2000), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Smith, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Bibliography entry:

Smith, Peter D.. 2000. Metaphor and Materiality: German Literature and the World-View of Science 1780-1955, Studies In Comparative Literature, 4 (Legenda)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Smith 2000: 21).

Example footnote reference: 35 Smith 2000: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

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