French Literature Reviews - 2026

B. Grandordy, Darwin, Pasteur, Koch et Freud dans le roman - L'évolution et la santé dans la réalité et l'imaginaire européens
History, Politics and Society

Béatrice Grandordy, Darwin, Pasteur, Koch et Freud dans le roman - L'évolution et la santé dans la réalité et l'imaginaire européens

Paris: L'Harmattan, 2012.

EAN 9782296964280

22.00 EUR

Publisher's Overview:

In the second half of the 19th century, scientific breakthroughs stemmed from the genius of a few, yet they were made possible because the "realistic" European intellectual elite eagerly anticipated them to explain the world and guide future society. Artists and men of letters turned scientific novelty into a subject in its own right—an opportunity to modernize existential questioning and a tool to shape artistic creation into a world more truthful than everyday life.

Béatrice Grandordy holds a Ph.D. in Medicine, Science (Pharmacology), and the Humanities. Her research focuses on the intersection of science and the arts in the 19th century.

During the latter half of the nineteenth century, European intellectual culture experienced a shift as major scientific breakthroughs captured the imagination of writers and artists. Béatrice Grandordy investigates how the realistic intellectual elite anticipated these developments to interpret the world and direct future society. The discoveries associated with figures like Charles Darwin, Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch, and Sigmund Freud permeated the cultural consciousness. Men of letters recognized this scientific novelty as an opportunity to modernize existential questioning and integrate new paradigms into their creative work, and readers interested in the historical relations between scientific thought and artistic creation in modern Europe may find this volume relevant to their inquiries.