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Darwinism in Canadian Literature Darwinism in Canadian Literature DARWINISM IN CANADIAN LITERATURE DARWINISM IN CANADIAN LITERATURE by HOWARD JAMES REIMER, M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philos~phy McMaster University September, 1975 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (1975} McMASTER UNIVERSITY (English} Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: Darwinism in Canadian Literature AUTHOR: Howard James Reimer, B.A. (University of Manitoba} M.A. (University of Manitoba) SUPERVISOR: Professor C. P. Ballstadt NUMBER OF PAGES: vii, 293. i i ABSTRACT The four decades which followed the publication of Charles Darwin•s The Origin of Species in 1859 saw the concept of evolution spread throughout the sciences. and indeed into virtually every field of intellectual inquiry. In literature, evolutionary concepts gave rise, broadly speaking, to two kinds of writing: discursive and associative. The actual debate which erupted upon publica­ tion of Darwin•s theory of natural selection quickly gave rise to a large body of discursive literature in which the ramifications of evolutionary theory were examined. Un­ doubtedly this discursive prose influenced scientists and non-scientific readers alike, and helped to make Darwinian concepts a part of our culture. This thesis provides evidence that Canadian writers took part in the debate on evolution, producing a body of discursive prose, and it also shows that Canadian imaginative literature has been affected by that debate in significant ways. Four of the eight writers dealt with in this thesis wrote non-fictional prose. Daniel Wilson (1816-1892; ethnologist and literary critic) and William Dawson (1820­ 1899); geologist and paleontologist) are authors of i i i critiques of Darwinism in which their individual scientific interests play important roles. Goldwin Smith {1823-1910; historian and journalist) and William LeSueur (1840-1917; social critic) direct their rationalistic arguments at the social implications of science. Imaginative literature in which evolution shows important influence appeared in Canada with the Confederation poets. Poetry by three of them -- Charles G. D. Roberts (1861-1945}, Archibald Lampman {1861-1899) and Wilfred Campbell {1858-1918)· -- is discussed in the thesis. In their poetry there is certainly an effort to define man in the light of the new scientific knowledge, and also a marked tendency to see the idealistic possibilities inherent in evolution. On the other hand, the fiction of Charles G. D. Roberts focuses on the realistic aspects of Darwinism. The culminating figure in this thesis is E. J. Pratt. The influence of the earlier literature of evolution is evident in Pratt's poetry. His scientific orientation which appears in his fascination with mechanism in nature and man, and in his use of scientific terms and imagery -- strongly suggests the influence of the debate on evolution, and of wilderness literature such as Roberts' fiction. In terms of the structure of the thesis, the seven chapter divisions set off individual studies which iv depend for the most part on primary sources, and which are held together by a common theme. The chapters are further related by the evidence they provide for the existence of an imaginative continuum, according to which "writers are conditioned in their attitudes by their predecessors, or by the cultural climate of their predecessors, whether 1 there is conscious influence or not". The specifically Canadian dimension observed in the literature of evolution analyzed here derives from that activity of the· imagination which seeks to create a unified vision of reality. The associative literature in particu­ lar presents a world in which the specific physical environment merges with the intellectual framework in which the debate on evolution was conducted. Thus, although there is nothing specifically Canadian about evolutionary theory, evolutionary concepts have become important to Canadian literature. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In writing this thesis I have had the assistance of many people at the library of McMaster University and the National Library in Ottawa. Mrs. Parker, at the Inter-library loan desk at McMaster University, was especially helpful. Professor John Ferns and Professor Norman Shrive provided valuable assistance in reading and commenting on the manuscript. Special thanks are due to my supervisor, Professor C. P. Ballstadt, without whose assistance this thesis could not have been written. vi T A B L E 0 F C 0 N T E N T S Page INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I : DANIEL WILSON 9 CHAPTER I I : SIR J. W. DAWSON 34 CHAPTER I I I : GOLDWIN SMITH 79 CHAPTER IV: WILLIAM DAWSON LE SUEUR 105 CHAPTER V: THREE CONFEDERATION POETS 122 CHAPTER VI: CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS 154 CHAPTER VII: E. J. PRATT 207 CONCLUSION 247 FOOTNOTES 256 BIBLIOGRAPHY 284 vii INTRODUCTION Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species was pub­ lished in 1859. Its publication gave impetus to a debate which, in a period of four decades, brought about what may be termed the Darwinian revolution. Philip Appleman has aptly described that revolution in his epilogue to an anthology of writings by Darwin and Darwinists: What was at stake was nothing less than a world­ view. Bishop Ussher had calculated that man was created at 9:00 A.M. on October 23 in the year 4004 B.C.; and Paley had proved that the whole creation was wonderfully and intricately designed by a rational Creator. But natural selection was a prodigiously time-consuming process, in which six thousand years are as a single sunset; and it was the reverse of rational: it was fortuituous. Darwin's universe ended up looking much the same as Paley•s (as of course it had to); but both its past and its process were new, revolutionary, heretical -- and persuasive. Persuasive because 11 Science 11 was persuasive, evolution became a watchword to the late Victorians. By the end of the century, hardly a field of thought remained unfertilized by the 11 new 11 concept. His­ torians had begun looking at the past as 11 a living 11 organism ; legal theorists studied the law as a developing social institution; critics examined the evolution of literary types; anthropologists and sociologists invoked 11 natural selection 11 in their studies of social forms; apologists for the h 2 ;:t ·1 t h:; s ;J o ·,v e d ho\" the f) o o 1 are t h 2 "u n-p 1t " J n d h o •.v 1 11 Pro gr e s s , u n de r the ·1 e ad e r s h i p of the ' f i t , VI as i n e v ·i tab1 e ; nove 1 i s t s "observed 11 the i r creatures as they evolved in an 11 empirical 11 way; and poets hymned a creative life-force. Half a century after the publication of the Origin, evolution, which in 1800 had been a word used mostly in rather narrow and technical scientific senses, seemed capable of explaining anything.l 1 • 2 This study will attempt to show that Canadian writers have had a part in the debate on evolution, as critics and popularizers (these two roles frequently coinciding), and that Canadian imaginative literature has responded in a significant way to the issues it raised. Gerhard Masur, in his intellectual history, Prophets of Yesterday: Studies in European Culture, makes two points that are significant to this thesis. Concerning the philosophical climate of the last part of the nineteenth century he says that, 11 The converging influence of the earlier years had produced a negation of everything that 11 2 transcended material life • It should be stated at the outset that, in general, the Canadian writers dealt with in this study reject the prevailing philosophical material­ ism. On Masur's second point regarding the late nineteenth century, that there was a new need to define man, they are in general agreement, without however accepting the im­ perative that such definition be made "in a strictly 11 3 immanent \>Jay • Eight individual contributions to the literature o7 ~ v 01 uti on wi ·! l b 9 exam i r. e d i n the f o l 1 o ',J i n g c h a pte;s . It may be useful to indicate in advance the approach each of these eight writers took to the problems raised by Darwinism. The writers are, in order: Daniel Wilson (1816-1892), William Dawson (1820 -1899), Goldwin Smith 3 (1823-1910), William Dawson LeSueur (1840-1917), Charles G. D. Roberts (1860-1945}, Archibald Lampman (1861-1899), William Wilfred Campbell (1858-1918), and E. J. Pratt (1882-1964). The first four of these are discussed as writers of non-fictional prose, and the last four as writers of poetry and fiction. Daniel Wilson was an ethnologist and a literary critic. In his Caliban: The Missing Link (1873) he combines his two interests to develop a searching critique of Darwinism. The central point which Wilson undertakes to show is that mind is not marely a by-product of physical forces. Rather ingeniously he builds his argument by developing a parallel between Darwin's ape-like human ancestor and Caliban, the half-man, half-brute character in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Both figures, Wilson contends, are products of imagination, but Shakespeare's creation is the more convincing one. William Dawson, an early principal of McGill University, was a respected member of the scientific community. He worked in the related fields of geology and p::l:~on;:olJgY, ::::nd sub.1titt2d nulll·?.rous articies fo; publ·i­ cation in scientific journals in Britain, Canada and the United States. He was also the author of a number of books. A. Douglas Vibert makes the following comment in Literary History of Canada on one of Dawson's books: 4 His classic Acadian Geology (Edinburgh and London, 1855), of whose 11 high scientific merit, very con­ siderable literary merit" Hugh Miller wrote in the Edinburgh Witness, is far from being in the cate­ gory of an ordinary textbook, vide his beautiful and dramatic description of the-Tncoming tide in the Cobequid and Chignecto bays and his pages on the history of the name Acadia.4 Dawson applied his writing skills and his thorough grasp of geology to the task of harmonizing science and religion, and in the pursuit of this aim he produced a comprehensive critique of Darwinian thought.
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