The cylinder : kinematics of the nineteenth century / Helmut Müller-Sievers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Müller-Sievers, Helmut.

Series:

Flashpoints (Berkeley, Calif.) ; 9.

Flashpoints ; 9

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature, Modern--19th century--Themes, motives.

Literature, Modern.

Machinery in literature.

Mechanics in literature.

Science in popular culture.

Cylinders.

Themes, motives.

Physical Description:

x, 245 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2012]

Summary:

The Cylinder investigates the surprising proliferation of cylindrical objects in the nineteenth century, such as steam engines, phonographs, panoramas, rotary printing presses, silos, safety locks, and many more. Examining this phenomenon through the lens of kinematics, the science of forcing motion, Helmut Müller-Sievers provides a new view of the history of mechanics and of the culture of the industrial revolution, including its literature, that focuses on the metaphysics and aesthetics of motion. Müller-Sievers explores how nineteenth-century prose falls in with the specific rhythm of cylindrical machinery, re-imagines the curvature of cylindrical spaces, and conjoins narrative progress and reflection in a single stylistic motion. Illuminating the intersection of engineering, culture, and literature, he argues for a concept of culture that includes an epoch's relation to the motion of its machines.

Helmut Müller-Sievers is Director of the Center for Humanities and the Arts and Eaton Professor of Humanities and Arts at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His previous books include Self-Generation: Biology, Philosophy, and Literature around 1800. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part 1 The Prehistory and Metaphysics of the Cylinder 1

1 Introduction 3

2 The Rise of Kinematics 20

3 The Valuation of Motions 41

Part 2 Cylinders of the Nineteenth Century 57

4 The Cylinder as Motor 59

5 The Cylinder as Tool 66

6 Kinematics of Narration I: Dickens and the Motion of Serialization 103

7 The Cylinder as Enclosure 113

8 Kinematics of Narration II: Balzac and the Cylindrical Shape of the Plot 131

9 Gears and Screws 139

10 Kinematics of Narration III: Henry James "and the Turn of the Screw 151.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780520270770

0520270770

OCLC:

748941714