Butler among the machines: evolutionary literature and science in Europe, 1859-1902
Samuel Butler wrote an appreciative early review of Darwin's 'Origin of the Species' entitled 'Darwin Among the Machines', before writing the early dystopian science fiction novel Erewhon and a major Victorian novel of education, 'The Way of All Flesh'. He also published four of his own books on evolution. Dr Elinor Shaffer, who has just finished co-editing the third of the three-volume 'The Reception of Charles Darwin in Europe', discusses how European responses to Darwin have shed new light on the works of Samuel Butler.