Francis Galton’s Eugenic Novel Kantsaywhere Published Online
Francis Galton’s eugenic novel Kantsaywhere has been published for the first time by UCL.
The novel, which is accompanied by a new introduction that considers its controversial literary and social context, was rejected for publication shortly before Galton’s death in 1911. Now, UCL has decided it to make it publicly available for the first time as part of a year of events commemorating the 100th anniversary of his death.
Francis Galton is often referred to as the ‘father of eugenics’, as he was the first to propose that human populations could be engineered to improve their genetic composition – an idea that has been highly contentious throughout the 20th century. In addition to coining the term ‘eugenics’, Galton was a polymath and scientist who, amongst other achievements, devised a system for forensic fingerprinting. (more…)