Charles Darwin
Victorian Mythmaker
A N Wilson
- 'Hugely
- enjoyable'
- -
- Spectator
'A
- lucid,
- elegantly
- written
- and
- thought-provoking
- social
- and
- intellectual
- history'
- -
- Evening
- Standard
'As
- a
- historian
- trying
- to
- put
- Darwin
- in
- the
- context
- of
- his
- time,
- there
- is
- surely
- no
- better
- biographer
- than
- Wilson'
- -
- The
- Times
'A
- work
- of
- scholarship
- that
- is
- hard
- to
- put
- down'
- -
- Deborah
- CadburyCharles
- Darwin:
- the
- man
- who
- discovered
- evolution?
- The
- man
- who
- killed
- off
- God?
- Or
- a
- flawed
- man
- of
- his
- age,
- part
- genius,
- part
- ruthless
- careerist
- who
- would
- not
- acknowledge
- his
- debts
- to
- other
- thinkers?In
- this
- bold
- new
- life
- -
- the
- first
- single
- volume
- biography
- in
- twenty-five
- years
- -
- A.
- N.
- Wilson,
- the
- acclaimed
- author
- of
- The
- Victorians
- and
- God's
- Funeral,
- goes
- in
- search
- of
- the
- celebrated
- but
- contradictory
- figure
- Charles
- Darwin.Darwin
- was
- described
- by
- his
- friend
- and
- champion,
- Thomas
- Huxley,
- as
- a
- 'symbol'.
- But
- what
- did
- he
- symbolize?
- In
- Wilson's
- portrait,
- both
- sympathetic
- and
- critical,
- Darwin
- was
- two
- men.
- On
- the
- one
- hand,
- he
- was
- a
- naturalist
- of
- genius,
- a
- patient
- and
- precise
- collector
- and
- curator
- who
- greatly
- expanded
- the
- possibilities
- of
- taxonomy
- and
- geology.
- On
- the
- other
- hand,
- Darwin,
- a
- seemingly
- diffident
- man
- who
- appeared
- gentle
- and
- even
- lazy,
- hid
- a
- burning
- ambition
- to
- be
- a
- universal
- genius.
- He
- longed
- to
- have
- a
- theory
- which
- explained
- everything.But
- was
- Darwin's
- 1859
- master
- work,
- On
- the
- Origin
- of
- Species,
- really
- what
- it
- seemed,
- a
- work
- about
- natural
- history?
- Or
- was
- it
- in
- fact
- a
- consolation
- myth
- for
- the
- Victorian
- middle
- classes,
- reassuring
- them
- that
- the
- selfishness
- and
- indifference
- to
- the
- poor
- were
- part
- of
- nature's
- grand
- plan?Charles
- Darwin:
- Victorian
- Mythmaker
- is
- a
- radical
- reappraisal
- of
- one
- of
- the
- great
- Victorians,
- a
- book
- which
- isn't
- afraid
- to
- challenge
- the
- Darwinian
- orthodoxy
- while
- bringing
- us
- closer
- to
- the
- man,
- his
- revolutionary
- idea
- and
- the
- wider
- Victorian age.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
