Though Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has inspired a vast body of criticism, there are no book-length studies that contextualise this widely taught novel in contemporary scientific and literary debates. The essays in this volume by leading writers in their fields provide new historical scholarship into areas of science and pseudo-science that generated fierce controversy in Mary Shelley's time: anatomy, electricity, medicine, teratology, Mesmerism, quackery and proto-evolutionary biology. The collection embraces a multifaceted view of the exciting cultural climate in Britain and Europe from 1780 to 1830. While Frankenstein is all too often read as a cautionary tale of the inherent dangers of uncontrolled scientific experimentation, the essays here take the reader back to a period when experimenters and radical thinkers viewed science as the harbinger of social innovation that would counter the virulent conservative backlash following the French Revolution. The collection will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars specialising in Romanticism, cultural history, philosophy and the history of science.

The Enlightenment World offers an informed, comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the European Enlightenment (c. 1720-1800) as both an historical epoch and a cultural formation.

This prestigious collection begins with the intellectual origins of the Enlightenment, and spans early formations up to both contemporary and modern critics of the Enlightenment.

The chapters, written by leading international experts, represent the most cutting-edge research within the field and include:

• 
  
• the high enlightenment
• 
  
• polite culture and the arts
• 
  
• reforming the world
• 
  
• material and popular culture
• 
  
• transformations and exploration.

Covering topics as diverse as government, fashion, craftsmen and artisans, philanthropy, cross-cultural encounters, feminism, censorship, science and education, this volume provides a thorough survey of the Enlightenment in Europe.

The Enlightenment World offers an informed, comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the European Enlightenment (c. 1720-1800) as both an historical epoch and a cultural formation.

This prestigious collection begins with the intellectual origins of the Enlightenment, and spans early formations up to both contemporary and modern critics of the Enlightenment.

The chapters, written by leading international experts, represent the most cutting-edge research within the field and include:

• The High Enlightenment
• Polite Culture and the Arts
• Reforming the World
• Material and Pop Culture
• Transformations and Exploration.

Covering topics as diverse as government, fashion, craftsmen and artisans, philanthropy, cross-cultural encounters, feminism, censorship, science and education, this volume will provide essential reading for all students of the Enlightenment.

Though Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has inspired a vast body of criticism, there are no book-length studies that contextualise this widely taught novel in contemporary scientific and literary debates. The essays in this volume by leading writers in their fields provide new historical scholarship into areas of science and pseudo-science that generated fierce controversy in Mary Shelley's time: anatomy, electricity, medicine, teratology, Mesmerism, quackery and proto-evolutionary biology. The collection embraces a multifaceted view of the exciting cultural climate in Britain and Europe from 1780 to 1830. While Frankenstein is all too often read as a cautionary tale of the inherent dangers of uncontrolled scientific experimentation, the essays here take the reader back to a period when experimenters and radical thinkers viewed science as the harbinger of social innovation that would counter the virulent conservative backlash following the French Revolution. The collection will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars specialising in Romanticism, cultural history, philosophy and the history of science.

This ninth volume in The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism presents a wide-ranging survey of developments in literary criticism and theory during the last century. Drawing on the combined expertise of a large team of specialist scholars, it offers an authoritative account of the various movements of thought that have made the late twentieth century such a richly productive period in the history of criticism. The aim has been to cover developments which have had greatest impact on the academic study of literature, along with background chapters that place those movements in a broader, intellectual, national and socio-cultural perspective. In comparison with Volumes Seven and Eight, also devoted to twentieth-century developments, there is marked emphasis on the rethinking of historical and philosophical approaches, which have emerged, especially during the past two decades, as among the most challenging areas of debate.