1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910812298903321

Autore

Irmscher Christoph

Titolo

The Poetics of Natural History / / Christoph Irmscher

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Brunswick, NJ : , : Rutgers University Press, , [2019]

©2019

ISBN

1-9788-0590-X

Edizione

[Second edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xxii, 379 pages) : color illustrations

Altri autori (Persone)

PurcellRosamond

Disciplina

508

Soggetti

Natural history - United States - History - 18th century

Natural history - United States - History - 19th century

Naturalists - United States

Natural history literature - United States

Poetics - History - 18th century

Poetics - History - 19th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Revised edition of: The poetics of natural history : from John Bartram to William James. c1999.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Foreword / Purcell, Rosamond -- Notes on the Photographs -- Preface to the Second Edition / Irmscher, Christoph -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Part One. Displaying -- Chapter 1. "America Transplanted" / Bartram, John / Bartram, William -- Chapter 2. Collection and Recollection / Peale, Charles Willson -- Chapter 3. Collecting Human Nature / Barnum, P. T. -- Part Two. Representing -- Chapter 4. The Power of Fascination -- Chapter 5. Audubon at Large -- Chapter 6. Agassiz Agonistes -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Early American naturalists assembled dazzling collections of native flora and fauna, from Joihn Bartram's botanical garden in Philadelphia and the artful display of animals in Charles Willson Peale's museum to P. T. Barnum's American Museum, infamously characterized by Henry James as "halls of humbug." Yet physical collections were only one of the myriad ways that these naturalists captured, catalogued, and commemorated America's rich biodiversity. They also turned to writing and art, from John Edward Holbrook's forays into the fascinating world



of herpetology to John James Audubon's masterful portraits of American birds.   In this groundbreaking, now classic book, Christoph Irmscher argues that early American natural historians developed a distinctly poetic sensibility that allowed them to imagine themselves as part of, and not apart from, their environment. He also demonstrates what happens to such inclusiveness in the hands of Harvard scientist-turned Amazonian explorer Louis Agassiz, whose racist pseudoscience appalled his student William James.    This expanded, full-color edition of The Poetics of Natural History features a preface and art from award-winning artist Rosamond Purcell and invites the reader to be fully immersed in an era when the boundaries between literature, art, and science became fluid.