Biological Time, Historical Time: Transfers and Transformations in 19th Century Literature

Biological Time, Historical Time presents a new approach to 19th century thought and literature: by focussing on the subject of time, it offers a new perspective on the exchanges between French and German literary texts on the one hand and scientific disciplines on the other. Hence, the rivalling influences of the historical sciences and of the life sciences on literary texts are explored, texts from various scientific domains – medicine, natural history, biology, history, and multiple forms of vulgarisation – are investigated. Literary texts are analysed in their participation in and transformation of the scientific imagination. Special attention is accorded to the temporal dimension: this allows for an innovative account of key concepts of 19th century culture.

Niklas Bender is substitute Professor for Romance Literatures at Trier and Tübingen University. His works focus on literature and science, comic procedures, laughter and anthropology. Recently, he published The Laughter of Art: the Contribution of the Comic to Modernist Literature.

Gisèle Séginger, full professor at the University of Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée and member of the Institut Universitaire de France, is the founder of the Centre de Recherche Littératures, Savoirs et Arts (LISAA) and director of a research program at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Paris. She is a specialist on Flaubert, Nerval, Musset and on the relations between literature and scientific knowledge.