Forging the Missing Link

Are there particular kinds of cultural stories that interdisciplinary work uncovers, stories that would otherwise lie latent or concealed? Gillian Beer argues that there are and that the 'missing link' (the notion of an unexplained gap in evolution between humans and their precursors) produces such a narrative. Both Darwin and Huxley denied that any link was missing in the evolutionary process. Yet the idea took hold in journalism, fiction, poetry, cartoons, and popular entertainment – and has continued to fascinate in our century. Professor Beer suggests that it was no accident that the search for the missing link and the rise of the detective story occurred in the same period. What anxieties did the missing link conceal? The author provides some unexpected answers.

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