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Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science: the Aesthetics of Astronomy Holly Henry Frontmatter More Information

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Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science: the Aesthetics of Astronomy Holly Henry Frontmatter More Information Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-81297-9 - Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science: The Aesthetics of Astronomy Holly Henry Frontmatter More information VIRGINIA WOOLF AND THE DISCOURSE OF SCIENCE The Aesthetics of Astronomy Holly Henry investigates how advances in astronomy in the early twentieth century had a shaping effect on Virginia Woolf’s literature and aesthetics as well as on the work of modernist British writers in- cluding Vita Sackville-West, H.G. Wells, Olaf Stapledon, Bertrand Russell, and T.S. Eliot. The 1920s and 1930s witnessed a pervasive public fascination with astronomy that extended from the US, where Edwin Hubble in 1923 definitively determined that entire galaxies existed beyond the Milky Way, to England, where London’s intellec- tuals discussed Sir James Jeans’s popular astronomy books and the newly explored expanses of space. In re-evaluating the cultural con- text out of which modernism emerged, Henry contends that Woolf, through her own fascination with astronomy, formulated a global aesthetics that helped shape her fiction and her pacifist politics. Henry’s study includes examinations of unpublished scientific and literary archival material and sheds new light on Woolf’s texts and on recent re-evaluations of Modernism. holly henry is Assistant Professor of English at the California State University, San Bernardino. Her research has appeared in publications in both the humanities and the sciences including contributions to Virginia Woolf in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (2000) edited by Pamela L. Caughie and Astronomy & Geophysics: The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-81297-9 - Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science: The Aesthetics of Astronomy Holly Henry Frontmatter More information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-81297-9 - Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science: The Aesthetics of Astronomy Holly Henry Frontmatter More information VIRGINIA WOOLF AND THE DISCOURSE OF SCIENCE The Aesthetics of Astronomy HOLLY HENRY © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-81297-9 - Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science: The Aesthetics of Astronomy Holly Henry Frontmatter More information University Printing House, Cambridge cb2 8bs, United Kingdom Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521812979 © Holly Henry 2003 Th is publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2003 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library isbn 978-0-521-81297-9 Hardback isbn 978-0-521-11987-0 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-81297-9 - Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science: The Aesthetics of Astronomy Holly Henry Frontmatter More information Dedicated to Christine, Wilbur, Chip, Cherie and John © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-81297-9 - Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science: The Aesthetics of Astronomy Holly Henry Frontmatter More information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-81297-9 - Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science: The Aesthetics of Astronomy Holly Henry Frontmatter More information Contents List of illustrations page viii Preface ix Acknowledgements xii List of abbreviations xiii Introduction: Formulating a global aesthetic 1 1 Stars and nebulae in popular culture 12 2 From Hubble’s telescope to “The Searchlight” 51 3 Maps, globes, and “solid objects” 71 4 “The riddle of the universe” in The Waves 93 5 Woolf and Stapledon envision new worlds 108 6 Three Guineas: Woolf’s global vision 141 Notes 159 Bibliography 189 Index 204 vii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-81297-9 - Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science: The Aesthetics of Astronomy Holly Henry Frontmatter More information Illustrations 0.1 The Last Human Family page 4 1.1 Barclay’s lager capitalizes on eclipse 20 1.2 Punch cartoon on the 1927 solar eclipse 21 1.3 “The Eclipse” 22 1.4 Spectacular image of a galaxy from The Universe Around Us 38 1.5 Nebula in Cygnus from The Universe Around Us 40 1.6 “The Star Stuff that is Man” 45 3.1 Illustration of the earth in space 74 3.2 “The Full Earth Seen from the Moon” 75 4.1 Note page from a talk by James Jeans 95 5.1 Graphic of giant stars printed in Illustrated London News 114 5.2 Mervyn Peake illustration for The Insect Play 124 viii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-81297-9 - Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science: The Aesthetics of Astronomy Holly Henry Frontmatter More information Preface Astronomy has been a personal passion from childhood. It was my dad who fastened a telescope with radiator hose clamps to a homemade tripod so that we could observe a lunar eclipse, or who would pause on a summer’s night to point out a passing satellite. Somehow I don’t remember what I saw through that army issue telescope our grandfather gave us, only it always being cold and that as children we were breaking the rules by staying up late. It was not exactly what I saw, but what I was inspired to dream – of other worlds whirling through space – that launched me on a career path that has culminated in the writing of this book. It is with great delight that I recognize some of the people and institutions that have made this research project possible. I wish to thank Christopher Vincent Jeans of 10 Adams Road, Cambridge, who so generously invited me to sift through his father’s very carefully kept notebooks and papers. Christopher hosted me at his home on two separate occasions, and I am greatly touched by his kind and gentle spirit. In coming to know Christopher, I feel I have glimpsed, if only in part, something of the character of his father Sir James and mother Susi. This book resulted from my graduate research directed by Susan Squier at the Pennsylvania State University. Susan invigorated the graduate program with her fascination with the interconnections of literature and science, and showed me the possibility of pursuing this interdisciplinary research. I am deeply grateful to Susan for her encouragement and inspiration, and for tirelessly reading and responding to multiple drafts of the manuscript in various stages. Lee Smolin, Robert Lougy, and Rich Doyle graciously served on my dissertation committee. Rich invited me to audit his seminars through which I came to read Haraway, Latour, Deleuze, and Guattari, and to dream about cryogenics and technologies of the future. I wish to thank The Royal Society, the Royal Astronomical Society, the BBC Written Archives Centre, the British Museum, the British Library, the British Library Newspaper Library at Colindale, King’s College, ix © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-81297-9 - Virginia Woolf and the Discourse of Science: The Aesthetics of Astronomy Holly Henry Frontmatter More information x Preface Cambridge, the Huntington Library, the Beckman Institute at the California Institute of Technology, the Observatories of the Carnegie In- stitution of Washington, and the Mount Wilson Observatory for granting me access to papers and archives related to this project. I am grateful to the California State University, San Bernardino, for granting me in 2001 a course release so that I could complete final research on the manuscript, also to the Department of English at Cal State for supporting my travel to England to research materials at the British Library at Colindale, King’s College, Cambridge, and James Jeans’s private papers at the home of Christopher Jeans. I also wish to express my gratitude to the Penn State Research and Graduate Studies Office, and to the Penn State Department of English, for making possible a trip to research the James Jeans archives at The Royal Society in London, the Royal Astronomical Society in London, the BBC Written Archives Centre, and the British Library. In addition, I am deeply grateful to William L. and Josephine Berry Weiss,and the WeissGraduate Fellowship Program at Penn State University. As a Weiss Fellow, I was granted a teaching release and given opportunity to research and write most of the chapters. Through funding by the Penn State Office of International Programs and the Penn State Department of English, I presented selections of my research at the Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena Conference (INSAP) in Malta in January 1999, and at several International Virginia Woolf conferences. Many colleagues, friends, and family members supported my research. Regarding content on astronomy and cosmology, I consulted several as- tronomers, cosmologists, and historians of astronomy, many of whom be- came personal friends. Lee Smolin graciously explained difficult concepts related to cosmology. Ray White was partly responsible for my being able to present a portion of my research at the INSAP Conferences in Malta and in Palermo, both of which were remarkable experiences.
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