09 "Something’s Bugging Me: Lewis Carroll and Victorian Entomology" with Dr. Franziska Kohlt (LCSNA)

LCSNA Spring Conference 2024 (Virtual)

"Something’s Bugging Me: Lewis Carroll and Victorian Entomology" with Dr. Franziska Kohlt, University of Leeds, School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science

Entomology, the study of insects, was not only one of the most popular subjects for children’s books in Lewis Carroll’s time, it was also considered one of the most appropriate for them. Stories about insects not only supposedly modelled ideal behaviours for children (busy bees), and how to organise society, but even how to trust in life after death, or justified Imperialism. These texts about the humble bug give fascinating insights into Victorian literature for children. This talk will approach insects in Lewis Carroll’s life and writing through their context in Victorian children’s naturalist literature, his own childhood and adult engagement with entomology and
entomological literature. It will investigate both how this culture shaped his thought and writing, but how through better understanding this context we can gain a more refined understanding of Carroll’s motivations as author, publisher and voice in society.

Dr. Franziska Kohlt is a Leverhulme Research Fellow in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds, where she currently researches the history of public science education in early nineteenth-century Britain. She holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford, where her PhD thesis investigated the historical intersections of the history of psychology and psychiatry and the works of Victorian writers of fantastic literature. She is also the Inaugural Carrollian Fellow at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she is currently finishing her book Through the Wonderglass: The Unexpected Histories of a Children’s Classic, which will appear with Reaktion Press.

00:00:00 Introduction, Heather Simmons
00:01:51 Dr. Franziska Kohlt
00:46:32 Q & A

©2024 The Lewis Carroll Society of North America http://LewisCarroll.org