This book looks at the representation of historical female scientists’ life stories in contemporary biographical novels. It reveals the complex interplay between historical facts and fictional privileges as well as feminist ambitions and popular myths and stereotypes about (these) women in the history of science. A gender-sensitive literary analysis is the methodological approach while recent concepts in biofiction studies form the theoretical foundation.
With a few exceptions, our view of the history of science has often focused solely on great men. In recent years, however, there has been an increasing “rediscovery” of female scientists and their often little-known or forgotten achievements. The present book is dedicated to this current development, also known as “herstory.” It shows that the genre of biographical fiction (i.e. the fictionalized representation of a historical person's life) plays an important role in this rewriting that now includes and highlights the perspectives of women. In examining the depiction of female scientists in selected novels and analyzing the ways in which historical fact and fictional privilege intertwine in the portrayal of their biographies, this study reveals the genre’s potential for telling women’s life stories but also points to the stereotypical images and myths (re-)emerging despite the narratives' avowed revisionist agendas. This book is highly valuable to feminist literary studies and an important addition to the growing field of biofiction scholarship, especially for the connections it draws to the history of science and women’s history.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


1 INTRODUCTION: BIOFICTION AND THE HERSTORY OF SCIENCE 1
1.1 The Aim and Approach of this Study 3
1.2 On the Chosen Text Corpus 7
1.3 The State of Research 9
1.4 The Structure of this Study 12


2 BIOGRAPHICAL FICTION, FEMALE LIFE STORIES, AND FEMINIST EFFORTS IN TELLING HERSTORY 18
2.1 Real Lives in Literary Fiction: On the Genre of the Biographical Novel 18
2.1.1 Biographical Fiction or Fictional Biography: Terminological Clarifications 20
2.1.2 Biofiction as Historical Fiction: An (Un-)Contested Generic Belonging 23
2.1.3 Between Fiction and Biography: The Hybrid Nature of Biofiction 26
2.1.4 Biofiction as a Postmodern Genre 28
2.1.5 Life Writing or Story Telling? Biofiction’s Narrative Purpose(s) 30
2.1.6 From Minor Genre to Major Literary Form: The Present-Day Rise of Biofiction 37
2.1.7 ‘Appropriation’ or ‘Silencing’: Biofiction and Ethics 39
2.1.8 The Famous and the Marginalized: The Preferred Subjects of Biofiction 40
2.2 (Re)Imagining HerStory: Female Lives in Biofiction 42
2.2.1 The Female Figure in History: A New Literary Presence 43
2.2.2 From History to Herstory: A Discursive Shift in Writing the Past 45
2.2.3 Women’s History and Feminist Biography 47
2.2.4 Similar Goals, Different Means: Female Lives in Herstorical Biofiction 49
2.2.5 Of Myths and Stereotypes: Herstorical Biofiction’s Ambivalent Gender Politics 53
2.3 Approaching (Herstorical) Biofiction 57
2.3.1 Providing Gender-Sensitive Readings 57
2.3.2 Considering the Chosen Subject’s Biography and Reception History 58
2.3.3 Studying the Literary Texts and Its Paratexts 61


3 THE LIVES OF HISTORICAL FEMALE SCIENTISTS IN BIOGRAPHICAL NOVELS 64
3.1 Fossils, Friendship, and a Fictional Love Story: Excavating Mary Anning, “The Greatest Fossilist the World Ever Knew,” in Tracy Chevalier’s Remarkable Creatures (2009) 64
3.1.1 “I Am Well-Known Throughout the Whole of Europe”: Mary Anning of Lyme Regis, an Unlikely and Unique Heroine in the History of Science 68
3.1.2 “A Mere Child Making Great Discoveries”? Mythologizing Her Story and Downplaying Her Abilities and Achievements 75
3.1.3 “How Can a Twenty-Five-Year-Old Middle-Class Lady Think of Friendship with a Young Working Girl?” Chevalier’s Relational Approach to Her Story 79
3.1.4 “[Are] You the Lightning Girl?” Perpetuating the ‘Anning Child Tale’ 90
3.1.5 “A Little in Love with Him Myself”: On the (Un-)Necessity of Romance 97
3.1.6 Conclusion 108


3.2 The Stars, Sibling Love, and a Scientific Fairy Tale: Remembering Caroline Herschel, “the First Professional Female Astronomer in History,” in Carrie Brown’s The Stargazer’s Sister (2015) 109
3.2.1 A Dutiful Assistant to Her Famous Brother or a Distinguished Astronomer in Her Own Right? Caroline Herschel’s Still Disputed Role in the History of Science 114
3.2.2 “A Well-Trained Puppy-Dog Would Have Done as Much”: Herschel’s Carefully Crafted Yet Often Misunderstood Image of Herself 123
3.2.3 A Damsel in Distress in Need of Rescue by Her Savior Prince: Herschel as the Cinderella of Astronomy 126
3.2.4 “Let Whatever Shines Be Noted”: The Complex (Inner) Life of the Woman Behind the ‘Great Man’ 130
3.2.5 “What Will She Not Do to Repay Him with Her Gratitude?” (Re-)Writing the Romantic Fairy Tale of Brother and Sister Herschel 137
3.2.6 A “Star […] in Orbit Around William” – Always Second to Her Brother? 145
3.2.7 Conclusion 150


3.3 Hidden Achievements, Historical Speculations, and the Shadow of a Famous Husband: Rescuing Mileva Marić, the ‘Mother of the Theory of Relativity’, in Marie Benedict’s The Other Einstein (2016) 152
3.3.1 “I Believe That a Woman Can Have a Career Like a Man”: Mileva Marić, a Pioneer for Women in Science and a Tragic Heroine 157
3.3.2 A Sounding Board for His Ideas or a Talented Scientist in Her Own Right? The Debate about Marić’s Scientific Legacy 163
3.3.3 “Lost in Albert’s Enormous Shadow”: Bringing Marić from the Darkness of Her Famous Husband’s Shadow into Her Own Bright Light 172
3.3.4 “The Ideal Bohemian Couple – Equal in Love and Work”: The Cautionary Tale of a Gifted Woman in Love with the Wrong Man 178
3.3.5 Distorted Facts or a Fictional Truth? Exploring the ‘What Ifs’ in Her Story 185
3.3.6 Conclusion 197


3.4 Math, Poetry, and the Legacy of a Famous Father: Recovering Ada Lovelace, the ‘World’s First Computer Programmer’, in Jennifer Chiaverini’s Enchantress of Numbers: A Novel of Ada Lovelace (2017) 198
3.4.1 “The Most Famous Woman in Computing”: Ada Lovelace, Pioneer in Computer Science and Feminist Icon for Women in STEM 203
3.4.2 A Scientific “Genius” or a Delusional “Charlatan”? Diverging Perceptions of Lovelace’s Contributions to and Her Legacy in Computer Science 210
3.4.3 Byron’s Only Legitimate Daughter – The Role of Lovelace’s Parentage in the Cultural Narrative of Her Story 215
3.4.4 “And Why Should I Not Write My Life?” Bringing Lovelace from “the Margins and Footnotes” of the Historical Narrative “to the Forefront of the Story” 220
3.4.5 “A Mathematical Fairy Weaving Magic with Numbers and Words”: Rightening the Record about Her Scientific Abilities and Achievements 227
3.4.6 “To Rise from My Own Achievements, Not My Father’s” – Forever Entrapped in the Daughter Stereotype 234
3.4.7 Conclusion 243


4 CONCLUSION 244
4.1 Summary 244
4.2 Outlook 252


5 WORKS CITED 256