Abstract
Grant Allen (1848-1899) was a well-known populariser of natural history who was widely recognised for his extensive knowledge of science and his ability to refashion complex ideas for general audiences. But his status as a popular writer, coupled with a lack of formal training, placed him at the margins of professional science and impeded his serious scientific ambitions. Although Allen tended to portray fiction-writing as an economic necessity, both contemporary and recent critics have noted stylistic innovations that place him within germinal popular genres of the fin de siècle. This paper aims to show that Allen’s contributions to late-Victorian popular literature derive in part from his negotiation of fiction and non-fiction genres. Focusing particularly on his experiments with the short story, it considers how and to what extent he distinguished scientific from literary writing, while revealing his views on plausibility in fiction to be more complex than is typically recognised. Little-studied reviews of Allen’s popular fiction suggest the wider contemporary impact of his experimentations. That critics recognised his style as unconventional endorses a reappraisal of his place within developments in late-Victorian popular literature.
Highlights
Victorian Popular FictionsCharlotte Sleigh has recently argued that the nineteenth-century novel functioned as a space for the testing of scientific ideas, describing the naturalist novel – intended to present “an explicitly ‘scientific’ way of accounting for the events that unfold” – as “a text-lab in which life-like scenarios would play out just as they would in reality” (Sleigh 2017: 80)
Grant Allen (1848-1899) was a well-known populariser of natural history who was widely recognised for his extensive knowledge of science and his ability to refashion complex ideas for general audiences
In the 1890s, Wells admitted in a letter to his fellow author, Grant Allen, that “this field of scientific romance with a philosophical element which I am trying to cultivate belongs properly to you” (c.1895)
Summary
Charlotte Sleigh has recently argued that the nineteenth-century novel functioned as a space for the testing of scientific ideas, describing the naturalist novel – intended to present “an explicitly ‘scientific’ way of accounting for the events that unfold” – as “a text-lab in which life-like scenarios would play out just as they would in reality” (Sleigh 2017: 80) She proposes that, ironically, it is science fiction that best approximates naturalism within British literature, that of writers conversant in science such as Grant Allen and, especially, H. The Preface is revealing with regard to Allen’s story- and science-writing, which he conceptualises as proximal spaces requiring deft, considered navigation He cites his scientific background to legitimise his right to “unclaimed territory” within the field of fiction, which “lies so temptingly close beside my own small original freehold” (Allen 1884: v). Allen ascribes analytical purpose to his stories when he invokes the psychological study, flippantly, thereby questioning the grounds on which these modes are distinguished and afforded value
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