Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English 5-2-2007 On the Limits of Culture: Why Biology is Important in the Study of Victorian Sexuality Robert Jonathan Burns Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Burns, Robert Jonathan, "On the Limits of Culture: Why Biology is Important in the Study of Victorian Sexuality." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2007. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/13 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ON THE LIMITS OF CULTURE: WHY BIOLOGY IS IMPORTANT IN THE STUDY OF VICTORIAN SEXUALITY by ROBERT BURNS Under the Direction of Paul Schmidt ABSTRACT Much recent scholarship in Victorian studies has viewed sexuality as historically contingent and constructed primarily within the realm of discourse or social organization. In contrast, the following study details species-typical and universal aspects of human sexuality that must be adequately theorized if an accurate model of the ideological forces impacting Victorian sexuality is to be fashioned. After a short survey of previous scholarly projects that examine literature through the lens of biology—much of it marred by an obvious antipathy toward all attempts to discover the involvement of ideology in human behavior—this study presents a lengthy primer to the modern study of evolutionary psychology, behavioral genetics, and human sexuality.