Victorians and Vivisection

Animal rights and medical ethics may seem to be
fairly recent, unrelated controversies. However, in
the late nineteenth-century, literature that
critiqued science was fueled by the vivisection
controversy. Vivisection, the method of
experimentation on living animals that propelled
medicine from an art of observation to a science of
experimentation, becomes complicated by its
connection to eugenics, gender and procreative
issues, and for its role in revisiting Darwinian
debates about the relationship between human and
non-human animals. The ethical issues raised in
several late-Victorian novels are explored from a
Darwinian perspective, and the book ends with an
analysis of Octavia E. Butler s twentieth-century
novels to illustrate the current relevance of these
cultural debates. This text should be useful for
academics, scholars, and students of Victorian
literature, history, culture, and/or science; those
interested in the work of Charles Darwin and the
relationships between human and non-human animals;
science fiction enthusiasts; and all who are
fascinated by the rapidly changing field of medical
and scientific technology.

Autorentext

Lynne Crockett received her Ph.D. in Victorian Literature fromNew York University. She is employed as an Associate Professor inthe Liberal Arts Division of Sullivan County Community College,Loch Sheldrake, New York.

Klappentext

Animal rights and medical ethics may seem to befairly recent, unrelated controversies. However, inthe late nineteenth-century, literature thatcritiqued science was fueled by the vivisectioncontroversy. Vivisection, the method ofexperimentation on living animals that propelledmedicine from an art of observation to a science ofexperimentation, becomes complicated by itsconnection to eugenics, gender and procreativeissues, and for its role in revisiting Darwiniandebates about the relationship between human andnon-human animals. The ethical issues raised inseveral late-Victorian novels are explored from aDarwinian perspective, and the book ends with ananalysis of Octavia E. Butler's twentieth-centurynovels to illustrate the current relevance of thesecultural debates. This text should be useful foracademics, scholars, and students of Victorianliterature, history, culture, and/or science; thoseinterested in the work of Charles Darwin and therelationships between human and non-human animals;science fiction enthusiasts; and all who arefascinated by the rapidly changing field of medicaland scientific technology.