German Romanticism and Science

<p>Situated at the intersection of literature and science, Holland's study draws upon a diverse corpus of literary and scientific texts which testify to a cultural fascination with procreation around 1800. Through readings which range from Goethe’s writing on metamorphosis to Novalis’s aphorisms and novels and Ritter’s Fragments from the Estate of a Young Physicist, Holland proposes that each author contributes to a scientifically-informed poetics of procreation. Rather than subscribing to a single biological theory (such as epigenesis or preformation), these authors take their inspiration from a wide inventory of procreative motifs and imagery.</p> Chapter 1 Introduction, Jocelyn Holland; Chapter 2 Poetic Procreation and Goethe’s Theory of Metamorphosis, Jocelyn Holland; Chapter 3 Friedrich von Hardenberg and the Discourse of Procreation, Jocelyn Holland; Chapter 4 The Poet as Artisan and the Instruments of Procreation, Jocelyn Holland; Chapter 5 Johann Wilhelm Ritter and the Writing of Life, Jocelyn Holland; Chapter 6 Procreative Thinking—Scientific Projects, Jocelyn Holland; Conclusion, Jocelyn Holland;