{"title":"吉尔伯特·怀特,《轶事与自然历史》","authors":"M. Sodeman","doi":"10.1353/sel.2020.0021","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article argues that by reclaiming the evidentiary function of anecdote, The Natural History of Selborne (1789) marks an inflection point in the writing of natural history. Gilbert White’s use of anecdote not only invested the form with renewed scientific precision but also invited readers to bring nature home to themselves. His approach paved the way for the late eighteenth-century obsession with anecdote to persist in popular works of Victorian science. For in the decades after White’s book appeared, naturalists and scientific popularizers followed him in making anecdote a fundamental epistemological and affective unit of natural history.","PeriodicalId":45835,"journal":{"name":"STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 1500-1900","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2021-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Gilbert White, Anecdote, and Natural History\",\"authors\":\"M. Sodeman\",\"doi\":\"10.1353/sel.2020.0021\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"Abstract:This article argues that by reclaiming the evidentiary function of anecdote, The Natural History of Selborne (1789) marks an inflection point in the writing of natural history. Gilbert White’s use of anecdote not only invested the form with renewed scientific precision but also invited readers to bring nature home to themselves. His approach paved the way for the late eighteenth-century obsession with anecdote to persist in popular works of Victorian science. For in the decades after White’s book appeared, naturalists and scientific popularizers followed him in making anecdote a fundamental epistemological and affective unit of natural history.\",\"PeriodicalId\":45835,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 1500-1900\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.2000,\"publicationDate\":\"2021-02-23\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 1500-1900\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1353/sel.2020.0021\",\"RegionNum\":3,\"RegionCategory\":\"文学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"Arts and Humanities\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"STUDIES IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 1500-1900","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/sel.2020.0021","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Arts and Humanities","Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract:This article argues that by reclaiming the evidentiary function of anecdote, The Natural History of Selborne (1789) marks an inflection point in the writing of natural history. Gilbert White’s use of anecdote not only invested the form with renewed scientific precision but also invited readers to bring nature home to themselves. His approach paved the way for the late eighteenth-century obsession with anecdote to persist in popular works of Victorian science. For in the decades after White’s book appeared, naturalists and scientific popularizers followed him in making anecdote a fundamental epistemological and affective unit of natural history.
期刊介绍:
SEL focuses on four fields of British literature in rotating, quarterly issues: English Renaissance, Tudor and Stuart Drama, Restoration and Eighteenth Century, and Nineteenth Century. The editors select learned, readable papers that contribute significantly to the understanding of British literature from 1500 to 1900. SEL is well known for thecommissioned omnibus review of recent studies in the field that is included in each issue. In a single volume, readers might find an argument for attributing a previously unknown work to Shakespeare or de-attributing a famous work from Milton, a study ofthe connections between class and genre in the Restoration Theater.