From Monster to Ancestor: The Emergence and Animation of the Deep Past
This article looks at the treatment of extinct species by scientific popularisers in the nineteenth century, and seeks to show how their status changed over time, and why. Starting out as exotic otherworldly monsters, they retained this status amongst those authors seeking to present the findings of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
2017-03-01
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| Series: | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/3166 |
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| _version_ | 1832581341801086976 |
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| author | Richard Somerset |
| author_facet | Richard Somerset |
| author_sort | Richard Somerset |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article looks at the treatment of extinct species by scientific popularisers in the nineteenth century, and seeks to show how their status changed over time, and why. Starting out as exotic otherworldly monsters, they retained this status amongst those authors seeking to present the findings of palaeontology as consistent with the Biblical narrative of creation, while authors willing to envisage an alternative natural history of creation tended to naturalise them. By the end of the century, however, the relationship had become more complex, with authors seeking to balance similarity and otherness, and using the mix as a way of naturalising their preferred reading of the ‘story’ of evolutionary processes. The article thus shows how the changing relationships between the categories of ‘monster’, ‘animal’ and ‘man’ reflected the strategies of educators for dealing with a perceived existential crisis for man and his relationship to the natural world. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f162748ab84348a4833351ff08269c23 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0220-5610 2271-6149 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2017-03-01 |
| publisher | Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
| spelling | doaj-art-f162748ab84348a4833351ff08269c232025-01-30T10:20:43ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492017-03-018510.4000/cve.3166From Monster to Ancestor: The Emergence and Animation of the Deep PastRichard SomersetThis article looks at the treatment of extinct species by scientific popularisers in the nineteenth century, and seeks to show how their status changed over time, and why. Starting out as exotic otherworldly monsters, they retained this status amongst those authors seeking to present the findings of palaeontology as consistent with the Biblical narrative of creation, while authors willing to envisage an alternative natural history of creation tended to naturalise them. By the end of the century, however, the relationship had become more complex, with authors seeking to balance similarity and otherness, and using the mix as a way of naturalising their preferred reading of the ‘story’ of evolutionary processes. The article thus shows how the changing relationships between the categories of ‘monster’, ‘animal’ and ‘man’ reflected the strategies of educators for dealing with a perceived existential crisis for man and his relationship to the natural world.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/3166popular scienceevolutionismreconstruction of extinct speciesnarrative |
| spellingShingle | Richard Somerset From Monster to Ancestor: The Emergence and Animation of the Deep Past Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens popular science evolutionism reconstruction of extinct species narrative |
| title | From Monster to Ancestor: The Emergence and Animation of the Deep Past |
| title_full | From Monster to Ancestor: The Emergence and Animation of the Deep Past |
| title_fullStr | From Monster to Ancestor: The Emergence and Animation of the Deep Past |
| title_full_unstemmed | From Monster to Ancestor: The Emergence and Animation of the Deep Past |
| title_short | From Monster to Ancestor: The Emergence and Animation of the Deep Past |
| title_sort | from monster to ancestor the emergence and animation of the deep past |
| topic | popular science evolutionism reconstruction of extinct species narrative |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/3166 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT richardsomerset frommonstertoancestortheemergenceandanimationofthedeeppast |