Unconscious Memory and Heredity: Evolutionary Ideas in Samuel Butler’s The Way of All Flesh

Foreign Literature Studies ›› 2019, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (2): 86-98.

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Unconscious Memory and Heredity: Evolutionary Ideas in Samuel Butler’s The Way of All Flesh

Su Mingming, Zhu Anbo

Published:2022-05-18
About author:Su Mingming, PhD in literature, is a lecturer at the School of Foreign Studies, Capital University of Economics and Business (Beijing 100070, China). Her research field is English literature of nineteenth century. Email: sumingming1980@hotmail.com;Zhu Anbo is a professor at the School of Foreign Studies, Capital University of Economics and Business (Beijing 100070, China), specializing in English literature and translation studies. Email: zhuanbo998@163.com

Abstract

Abstract: Samuel Butler was once one of Darwin’s fiercest opponents. The exploration of the theory of evolution is the motive and source of Butler’s novels. The theory of unconscious memory is not only Butler’s unique contribution to Lamarck’s “inheritance of acquired characteristics”, but also the core of Butler’s theory of evolution. By demonstrating the relationship between the novel, The Way of All Flesh (1903), and Butler’s four books about evolution, and finding the connection between the novel and Darwin’s works, especially The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868), we may conduct a comprehensive study of Butler’s works and gain a holistic understanding of his evolutionary ideas.

Key words: The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler, Lamarck, Darwin, unconscious memory

Su Mingming, Zhu Anbo. Unconscious Memory and Heredity: Evolutionary Ideas in Samuel Butler’s The Way of All Flesh[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2019, 41(2): 86-98.

References

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