When the young Charles Darwin landed on the shores of Tierra del Fuego in 1832, he was overwhelmed: nothing had prepared him for the sight of what he called 'an untamed savage'. The shock he felt, repeatedly recalled in later years, definitively shaped his theory of evolution. In this original and wide-ranging study, In this 2009 book Cannon Schmitt shows how Darwin and other Victorian naturalists transformed such encounters with South America and its indigenous peoples into influential accounts of biological and historical change. Redefining what it means to be human, they argue that the modern self must be understood in relation to a variety of pasts - personal, historical, and ancestral - conceived of as savage. Schmitt reshapes our understanding of Victorian imperialism, revisits the implications of Darwinian theory, and demonstrates the pertinence of nineteenth-century biological thought to current theorizations of memory.
• The first and only full-scale treatment of memory in the context of Victorian evolutionary theory • Provides a new reading of the impact of evolutionary theory that includes the work not only of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace but also of lesser-known evolutionists • Revises the current consensus about Victorian imperialism by showing the importance of South America to the Victorians despite it being outside the empire
Contents
Introduction; 1. Charles Darwin's savage mnemonics; 2. Alfred Russel Wallace's tropical memorabilia; 3. Charles Kingsley's recollected empire; 4. W. H. Hudson's memory of loss; Coda: some reflections.
Review
'… brilliant, original … ultimately satisfying… The book is impressive … brilliant attention to language … wonderful book.' George Levine, Rutgers University and New York University
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