Modernist Physics: Waves, Particles, and Relativities in the Writings of Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence

Awards:   Winner of Shortlisted for the British Society for Literature and Science Annual Book Prize.
Author:   Rachel Crossland (Senior Lecturer in English, University of Chichester)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
ISBN:  

9780198815976


Pages:   206
Publication Date:   22 March 2018
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Our Price $223.00 Quantity:  
Add to Cart

Share |

Modernist Physics: Waves, Particles, and Relativities in the Writings of Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence


Add your own review!

Awards

  • Winner of Shortlisted for the British Society for Literature and Science Annual Book Prize.

Overview

Modernist Physics takes as its focus the ideas associated with three scientific papers published by Albert Einstein in 1905, considering the dissemination of those ideas both within and beyond the scientific field, and exploring the manifestation of similar ideas in the literary works of Virginia Woolf and D. H. Lawrence. Drawing on Gillian Beer's suggestion that literature and science 'share the moment's discourse', Modernist Physics seeks both to combine and to distinguish between the two standard approaches within the field of literature and science: direct influence and the zeitgeist. The book is divided into three parts, each of which focuses on the ideas associated with one of Einstein's papers. Part I considers Woolf in relation to Einstein's paper on light quanta, arguing that questions of duality and complementarity had a wider cultural significance in the early twentieth century than has yet been acknowledged, and suggesting that Woolf can usefully be considered a complementary, rather than a dualistic, writer. Part II looks at Lawrence's reading of at least one book on relativity in 1921, and his subsequent suggestion in Fantasia of the Unconscious that 'we are in sad need of a theory of human relativity', a theory which is shown to be relevant to Lawrence's writing of relationships both before and after 1921. Part III considers Woolf and Lawrence together alongside late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century discussions of molecular physics and crowd psychology, suggesting that Einstein's work on Brownian motion provides a useful model for thinking about individual literary characters.

Full Product Details

Author:   Rachel Crossland (Senior Lecturer in English, University of Chichester)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 14.70cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 22.40cm
Weight:   0.382kg
ISBN:  

9780198815976


ISBN 10:   0198815972
Pages:   206
Publication Date:   22 March 2018
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Balancing Act of Literature and Science Part I. Waves, Particles and Heuristic Points of View 1: The Obligation to Choose: Dualistic Woolf 2: 'Orlando the man and Orlando the woman': Complementary Woolf Part II. Relativities and Relativism 3: D. H. Lawrence's 'theory of human relativity' 4: D. H. Lawrence and 'living relativity' Part III. Crowds of Molecules, Crowds as Molecules 5: Brownian Motion and Crowd Psychology: Shared Moment, Shared Discourse 6: A Brownian Model for Literary Crowds: Individuals Suspended in a Mass Conclusion

Reviews

Modernist Physics is framed by thought-provoking examinations of the function and concerns of literature and science as a field of study, in which Crossland painstakingly examines a variety of critical models around the issues of chronology, influence, shared discourse, and the challenges posed by the inherent interdisciplinarity of modernism itself. * Rachel Fountain Eames, The British Society for Literature and Science * Crossland's book attests not only to the ongoing generative power of the new physics but also to the continued need for scholarship that is internally elegant and surprising. Moreover, in foregrounding and testing a process of inquiry, Crossland models methodological responsibility for an increasingly interdisciplinary field. To assess the book in the terms it offers, Modernist Physics thoroughly engages several disciplines in order to overwrite, while still expressing, [their] difference (44). While this book would be worth reading just for its clear explana-tions and historical framing of concepts that reimagined the universe, Crossland has also made an enthralling contribution to modernist studies and Woolf scholarship. * Margaret Greaves, Woolf Studies Annual * Crossland expertly demonstrates the centrality of physics to Woolf and Lawrence's construction... the fact that the reader is left with unanswered questions is in many ways an indication of the richness of Crossland's study; it indicates that the book has the potential to spark many future investigations. * Catriona Livingstone, The Review of English Studies *


"...[a] diligent, thoughtful and articulate study... * Jeff Wallace, Cardiff Metropolitan University, D.H. Lawrence Review * Crossland expertly demonstrates the centrality of physics to Woolf and Lawrence's construction... the fact that the reader is left with unanswered questions is in many ways an indication of the richness of Crossland's study; it indicates that the book has the potential to spark many future investigations. * Catriona Livingstone, The Review of English Studies * Crossland's book attests not only to the ongoing generative power of the new physics but also to the continued need for scholarship that is internally elegant and surprising. Moreover, in foregrounding and testing a process of inquiry, Crossland models methodological responsibility for an increasingly interdisciplinary field. To assess the book in the terms it offers, Modernist Physics thoroughly engages several disciplines in order ""to overwrite, while still expressing, [their] difference"" (44). While this book would be worth reading just for its clear explana-tions and historical framing of concepts that reimagined the universe, Crossland has also made an enthralling contribution to modernist studies and Woolf scholarship. * Margaret Greaves, Woolf Studies Annual * Modernist Physics is framed by thought-provoking examinations of the function and concerns of literature and science as a field of study, in which Crossland painstakingly examines a variety of critical models around the issues of chronology, influence, shared discourse, and the challenges posed by the inherent interdisciplinarity of modernism itself. * Rachel Fountain Eames, The British Society for Literature and Science *"


Modernist Physics is framed by thought-provoking examinations of the function and concerns of literature and science as a field of study, in which Crossland painstakingly examines a variety of critical models around the issues of chronology, influence, shared discourse, and the challenges posed by the inherent interdisciplinarity of modernism itself. * Rachel Fountain Eames, The British Society for Literature and Science * Crossland's book attests not only to the ongoing generative power of the new physics but also to the continued need for scholarship that is internally elegant and surprising. Moreover, in foregrounding and testing a process of inquiry, Crossland models methodological responsibility for an increasingly interdisciplinary field. To assess the book in the terms it offers, Modernist Physics thoroughly engages several disciplines in order to overwrite, while still expressing, [their] difference (44). While this book would be worth reading just for its clear explana-tions and historical framing of concepts that reimagined the universe, Crossland has also made an enthralling contribution to modernist studies and Woolf scholarship. * Margaret Greaves, Woolf Studies Annual *


Modernist Physics is framed by thought-provoking examinations of the function and concerns of literature and science as a field of study, in which Crossland painstakingly examines a variety of critical models around the issues of chronology, influence, shared discourse, and the challenges posed by the inherent interdisciplinarity of modernism itself. * Rachel Fountain Eames, The British Society for Literature and Science *


...[a] diligent, thoughtful and articulate study... * Jeff Wallace, Cardiff Metropolitan University, D.H. Lawrence Review * Crossland expertly demonstrates the centrality of physics to Woolf and Lawrence's construction... the fact that the reader is left with unanswered questions is in many ways an indication of the richness of Crossland's study; it indicates that the book has the potential to spark many future investigations. * Catriona Livingstone, The Review of English Studies * Crossland's book attests not only to the ongoing generative power of the new physics but also to the continued need for scholarship that is internally elegant and surprising. Moreover, in foregrounding and testing a process of inquiry, Crossland models methodological responsibility for an increasingly interdisciplinary field. To assess the book in the terms it offers, Modernist Physics thoroughly engages several disciplines in order to overwrite, while still expressing, [their] difference (44). While this book would be worth reading just for its clear explana-tions and historical framing of concepts that reimagined the universe, Crossland has also made an enthralling contribution to modernist studies and Woolf scholarship. * Margaret Greaves, Woolf Studies Annual * Modernist Physics is framed by thought-provoking examinations of the function and concerns of literature and science as a field of study, in which Crossland painstakingly examines a variety of critical models around the issues of chronology, influence, shared discourse, and the challenges posed by the inherent interdisciplinarity of modernism itself. * Rachel Fountain Eames, The British Society for Literature and Science *


Author Information

Rachel Crossland is a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Chichester. Following a BA in English and Hispanic Studies at the University of Liverpool, she completed her Masters and DPhil at St John's College, Oxford. She taught at various colleges at the University of Oxford, before taking up a year's Lectureship at King's College London in 2014. She joined the University of Chichester in January 2015. Dr Crossland is interested in links between literature and science in the early twentieth century, including popular science, and in modernist writing more broadly considered.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions
Latest Reading Guide

RGJUNE2025

 

Shopping Cart
Your cart is empty
Shopping cart
Mailing List