Darwin and the Sandwalk: Mandalorian

It’s not entirely clear whether Darwin would have been distracted by cultural phenomena, like Star Wars.

There were equivalents. Charles Dickens was a publishing phenomenon during the middle of the 19th century. Charles and Emma read the latest novels to each other. Bleak House (1852-53), Hard Times (1854) and Little Dorrit (1856) would have occupied his time in the years of his main writing. A Tale of Two Cities (1859) came out the same year as the origin.

Whether Charles would have rushed out to get a David Copperfield doll, a limited edition Fagin top-hat or a Pickwick Papers paper set I do not know. But I’m sure that at least some of the time that Darwin spent strolling along the Sandwalk was spent in thinking about the plot of the latest Dickens.

Leave a Reply