Dear blog,

Another great day over, and one that I expected to miss because I was supposed to be at the north-west long C19th seminar in Manchester. Due to the snow the seminar has been cancelled so I was able to be here all day and listen to more of the student presentations.

Martin Willis’s session on Literature and Science this morning was excellent – he offered a survey of the ‘essential’ criticism on literature and science, which the students analysed in groups. Beginning with the first chapter of Gillian Beer’s Darwin’s Plot’s (1983) we talked about Beer’s emphasis on the fictive and linguistic nature of science, her stress on narrative, and the dominance of the discipline of English in her thought. Moving to George Levine’s introduction to One Culture (1987), we saw a shift to the history of science, considered his idea that both science and literature belonged to a single culture, sharing common ground and the same social context. Then we looked at Beer’s essay ‘Translation or Transformation’ first published in 1989 and of the same post-structuralist era as the previous two pieces, but here the concept of ‘creative misprision’ was even more explicit and considerations of genre were more clear. Gowan Dawson’s 2006 survey ‘Literature and Science under the Microscope’ was next examined, and students noticed that Gowan redresses the disciplinary balance, encouraging a ‘contextualising’ approach rather than Levine’s ‘one culture’. Finally the students had great fun making me feel uncomfortable by discussing my introduction to ‘Literature and Science’ from 2008, upbraiding me for my improper definition of cultural history but also seeing a topical focus on ideas of ‘truth’ and epistomology. It was excruciating to have my work critiqued while I was in the room but also very helpful.

The student presentations were of the same high standard as in previous nights. Jamie Stark kicked things off with a description of his study of ‘La Maladie de Bradford’ or Anthrax from 1878-1919. Anthrax was contracted by woolsorters (and others, though it was always known as the woolsorter’s disease) from the fleeces imported from abroad. I was amazed to learn that Homer had mentioned anthrax in the Illiad, especially when thinking that it was very differently represented in the 2001 attacks. Jeff Wolf’s project looks at why the notion of the mind replaces that of the body at the end of the C18th and particularly at the way that Scottish Enlightenment figures considerd the relationship between the mind and body. Sarah Crofton talked about the character of the occult detective or psychical researcher in supernatural stories. I was intrigued to hear of the desire for a ‘proper form of science’ to be applied to such activities as the seance, and that founding members of the Society for Psychical Research formed in 1882 included a doctor and a Professor of Physics. Wahida Amin is looking at the ‘Romantic chemist’ Humphry Davy’s manuscript poetry to see how this fits his scientific legacy. She hopes to reassess the term ‘Romantic’ so that it incorporates science and literature using Davy as precisely this kind of bridging figure. Grace Farrington’s PhD is being completed in association with The Reader, an organisation that arranged reading groups as a form of therapy. She aims to produce materials that could be used in such sessions and is trying to find a theoretical foundation for the claim that reading makes people feel better.

All in all, another great day, with much to think about. Unfortunately Scott Brewster can’t make it for his 9am session tomorrow because of the snow and we’re uncertain about whether Gowan will be able to get here either. The students assure me that they’ve worked hard enough so far and will appreciate a little more leisure time than was originally planned. If these sessions don’t go ahead we will run something on the social space though, so watch this space…

Sharon