{"product_id":"imagination-and-science-in-romanticism-paperback","title":"Imagination and Science in Romanticism - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eRichard C. Sha\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow did the idea of the imagination impact Romantic literature and science?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2018 Winner, Jean-Pierre Barricelli Book Prize, The International Conference on Romanticism\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRichard C. Sha argues that scientific understandings of the imagination indelibly shaped literary Romanticism. Challenging the idea that the imagination found a home only on the side of the literary, as a mental vehicle for transcending the worldly materials of the sciences, Sha shows how imagination helped to operationalize both scientific and literary discovery. Essentially, the imagination forced writers to consider the difference between what was possible and impossible while thinking about how that difference could be known. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSha examines how the imagination functioned within physics and chemistry in Percy Bysshe Shelley's \u003ci\u003ePrometheus Unbound\u003c\/i\u003e, neurology in Blake's \u003ci\u003eVala\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eor\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Four Zoas\u003c\/i\u003e, physiology in Coleridge's \u003ci\u003eBiographia Literaria\u003c\/i\u003e, and obstetrics and embryology in Mary Shelley's \u003ci\u003eFrankenstein\u003c\/i\u003e. He also demonstrates how the imagination was called upon to do aesthetic and scientific work using primary examples taken from the work of scientists and philosophers Davy, Dalton, Faraday, Priestley, Kant, Mary Somerville, Oersted, Marcet, Smellie, Swedenborg, Blumenbach, Buffon, Erasmus Darwin, and Von Baer, among others. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSha concludes that both fields benefited from thinking about how imagination could cooperate with reason--but that this partnership was impossible unless imagination's penchant for fantasy could be contained.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRichard C. Sha argues that scientific understandings of the imagination indelibly shaped literary Romanticism. Challenging the idea that the imagination found a home only on the side of the literary, as a mental vehicle for transcending the worldly materials of the sciences, Sha shows how imagination helped to operationalize both scientific and literary discovery. Essentially, the imagination forced writers to consider the difference between what was possible and impossible while thinking about how that difference could be known. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSha examines how the imagination functioned within physics and chemistry in Percy Bysshe Shelley's \u003ci\u003ePrometheus Unbound\u003c\/i\u003e, neurology in Blake's \u003ci\u003eVala\u003c\/i\u003e, or \u003ci\u003eThe Four Zoas\u003c\/i\u003e, physiology in Coleridge's \u003ci\u003eBiographia Literaria\u003c\/i\u003e, and obstetrics and embryology in Mary Shelley's \u003ci\u003eFrankenstein\u003c\/i\u003e. He also demonstrates how the imagination was called upon to do aesthetic and scientific work using primary examples taken from the work of scientists and philosophers Davy, Dalton, Faraday, Priestley, Kant, Mary Somerville, Oersted, Marcet, Smellie, Swedenborg, Blumenbach, Buffon, Erasmus Darwin, and Von Baer, among others. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSha concludes that both fields benefited from thinking about how imagination could cooperate with reason--but that this partnership was impossible unless imagination's penchant for fantasy could be contained.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This impressive monograph will remain, I suspect, the most important resource on Romantic literature and science for many decades to come. This book changes how we view not only Romanticism but also the broader relationship between literature and science.\"--\u003ci\u003eEighteenth-Century Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A fascinating read and discovery of literary and scientific interconnections.\"--\u003ci\u003eReview of English Studies\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"For Sha, the concept of imagination is the key to unlocking relations between science and literature, since the faculty was viewed as central to scientific inquiry and literary creativity alike. Sha demonstrates that scientific thinkers, far from being antipathetic to the imagination, repeatedly indulged it and then tested its results experimentally. [I am] grateful for many penetrating insights in Sha's book.\"--\u003ci\u003eStudies in Romanticism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Richard C. Sha's exemplary \u003ci\u003eImagination and Science in Romanticism\u003c\/i\u003e centers the Romantic imagination within scientific ways of knowing. Each chapter contains intriguing and thorough discussions of science, and subtle, detailed readings of literary texts. There is a wealth of wonderfully collated material here and fine-grained contextualization; readers interested in Romanticism and science will find the individual chapters rewarding.\"--\u003ci\u003eStudies in English Literature, 1500-190\u003c\/i\u003e0\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eRichard C. Sha\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor of literature at American University, where he is a member of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience. He is the author of\u003ci\u003e Perverse Romanticism: Aesthetics and Sexuality in Britain, 1750-1832\u003c\/i\u003e and the coeditor of \u003ci\u003eRomanticism and the Emotions\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 344\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.77 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 02, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47413254946994,"sku":"9781421439839","price":64.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0770\/3891\/1666\/files\/11773c2a8c00f972d621c93553274a14.webp?v=1778345079","url":"https:\/\/box.dadyminds.org\/products\/imagination-and-science-in-romanticism-paperback","provider":"DADYMINDS BOX","version":"1.0","type":"link"}