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Sympathetic science: Charles Darwin, Joseph Hooker and the passions of Victorian naturalists

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 07:22 authored by Jim EndersbyJim Endersby
This essay examines the complex tangle of emotional and scientific attachments that linked Darwin and botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker. Analyzing their roles as husbands, fathers, and novel readers demonstrates that possessing and expressing sympathy was as important for Victorian naturalists as it was for Victorian husbands. Sympathy was a scientific skill that Victorian naturalists regarded as necessary to fully understand the living world; although sympathy became increasingly gendered as feminine over the course of the century, its importance to male naturalists requires us to rethink the ways gender roles were negotiated in Victorian Britain. Botany was, for men like Darwin and Hooker, an acceptably masculine pursuit that nevertheless allowed— and even required—them to be sensitive and sympathetic.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Victorian Studies

ISSN

0042-5222

Publisher

Indiana University Press

Issue

2

Volume

51

Page range

299-320

Pages

22.0

Department affiliated with

  • History Publications

Notes

Special issue on Charles Darwin.

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2013-10-08

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