A recent article in The Boston Globe commends Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science (Princeton University Press, 2024) by Professor of Literature and Writing Renée Bergland. A specialist in American literature and feminist studies, Bergland demonstrates how Dickinson and Darwin reconciled the enchantment of art and the rationality of science. As Bergland explains, “This book started with the puzzling realization that many of Dickinson’s poems seemed profoundly Darwinian.”
According to the Globe, Natural Magic is “a daring kind of book . . . it’s the sort of wide-ranging and spirited book that most academics never write,” fusing different audiences and approaches.