Project Proposal
For the final project, I want to create a timeline that spans the 18th and 19th centuries. I am especially interested in seeing how the worldwide technological and scientific developments in those two centuries impacted artists and writers. I will start with Alexander Pope’s An Essay On Man because his attitude towards innovation and its impact on people is quite clear. Some of the other texts that I will focus on will include Bartleby The Scrivener, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, The Metamorphosis, and Diary of a Madman. The final text, by Lu Xun, also references the breakthrough in science, and especially the theory of evolution. Though the other stories may not bring direct attention to the developments of the time, their authors were nonetheless impacted by such changes. What our class-readings have taught me thus far is that while humanity experienced a dramatic increase in knowledge about the natural world, people began to feel more dissatisfied with their lives. The aim of my project is to dig deeper and understand how people viewed themselves as part of their community and the greater society and whether this view was at all influenced by changes in science.
To sufficiently meet the criteria of this assignment, I will need to resolve a few questions that I currently have for myself. Most importantly, I will need to narrow my focus and pick a specific theme once I start to do research.
For the next two weeks, I will compile information on the changes in science and technology that occurred between the 1700 and 1900, and the political, social, and artistic reactions that they encountered. In the second and third week of November I will analyze my information to find a specific pattern and will further explore it. The last week of November will be devoted to editing and improving my project.
3 responses so far
Interesting concept! I think that many scientific developments in the 18th and 19th centuries which involved astronomy (from Charles Messier, William Herschel, etc.) really added to people’s realization of how big the universe around them really is– that there is so much more out there than their own world and understanding. This brought upon many opinions and reflections on personal worth, death, afterlife, the desire for more unconventional (scientific) discoveries– themes that are apparent throughout many of the works we’ve read in class.
Also, besides only focusing on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution via natural selection (19th century), I would also look into Georges Cuvier, who established that extinction was a fact (18th century).
Sounds like a splendid idea. I think that focusing on the Industrial Revolution is what you’re getting at? If so, it should be easy to find plenty of innovations and advances that came into being during this time. As for a theme a suggestion would be maybe, Man vs machinery since it was a very prevailing topic/feeling of the time. I think you should have no trouble making the correlation between this idea and the works of literature that you picked.
I agree with you that you’ll want to keep homing and narrowing the theme as you go. Looking at evolution and, as Peace suggests, extinction and thinking about how cultural & intellectual developments around these concepts might impact literary production could be very interesting, for example. That is, just one scientific development and its relation to some of our readings could be enough, perhaps. I’m sure other readings will suggest themselves to you as your focus develops. Sounds like a great beginning.