Science in wonderland: the scientific fairy tales of Victorian Britain
- Oxford Oxford University Press 2015
- xiii, 227 p. : illustrations (some colour) ; 22 cm.
Cover; Science in Wonder Land: The scientific fairy tales of Victorian Britain; Copyright; Epigraph; Acknowledgements; Contents; List of Illustrations; List of Plates; Introduction: Nothing but Facts?; Science for the people; The wand of reason; A fairy tale age; The fairy tales of science; 1: Once Upon a Time; The age of monsters; Dragonology; Fairyland in f́ifty four; 2: Real Fairy Folk; A story without an end; The adventures of Madalene and Louisa; Fairy Know-a-Bit; Real Fairy folks; 3: Familiar Fairylands; The world in a drop of water; A drop of london water. A drop of water on its travelsDown the microscope; 4: Wonderlands of Evolution; Evolution in the family; Evolutionary authorship; Natureś fairy tale; An evolutionary Märchen; 5: Through Magic Glasses; Natural magic; In the sky-garden; 6: Modern Marvels; Goblins and ghosts; Grander tours; Wizards and demons; Behind the scenes at the theatre; Conclusion: Stranger than Fiction; Nothing but the truth; Science in wonderland; Further Reading; Endnotes; Index. Notes Formerly CIP.
In Victorian Britain an array of writers captured the excitement of new scientific discoveries, and enticed young readers and listeners into learning their secrets, by converting introductory explanations into quirky, charming, and imaginative fairy-tales; forces could be fairies, dinosaurs could be dragons, and looking closely at a drop of water revealed a soup of monsters.Science in Wonderland explores how these stories were presented and read. Melanie Keene introduces and analyses a range of Victorian scientific fairy-tales, from nursery classics such as The Water-Babies to the little-known.
9780199662654
Medicine in Literature Children's literature Fairy tales Science in literature English literature - 19th century - History and criticism