Mesmerists, monsters, and machines : science fiction and the cultures of science in the nineteenth century / Martin Willis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Willis, Martin, 1971-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science fiction--History and criticism.

Science fiction.

Fiction--19th century--History and criticism.

Fiction.

Literature and science.

Science--History--19th century.

Science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (272 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Kent, Ohio : Kent State University Press, [2006]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A cultural history of science and science fiction Using key canonical science fiction narratives, Mesmerists, Monsters, and Machines examines the intersection of the literary and scientific cultures of the nineteenth century. In this original and refreshing approach to the study of early science fiction, author Martin Willis maintains that science fiction was just as important in defining the culture of the nineteenth century as other critics maintain it was in shaping the twentieth century. Mesmerists, Monsters, and Machines interrogates the cultural implications of scientific development as articulated, challenged, and reformulated by science fiction. Each chapter demonstrates that both science and fiction were vital parts of a culture of imaginative and empirical practices that were continually reacting to, arguing with, and influencing one another throughout the nineteenth century. In an engrossing narrative that cites classic science fiction texts, Willis establishes a timeline for the reader so that the cultural significance of science fiction is understood and its complexity and relevance to the nineteenth century is demonstrated. Those interested in nineteenth-century history and literature, cultural studies, the history of science, and science fiction will welcome this addition to the scholarship.

Contents:

Literature, science, and science fiction

E.T.A. Hoffmann and the magic of mesmerism

Mary Shelley's electric imagination

The human experiments of Edgar Allan Poe

Verne's deep-sea investigations on dry land

Villiers de L'Isle-Adam's invention of psychical research

H.G. Wells in the laboratory

Conclusion : the progress of literature and science; or, a refrain on interdisciplinarity.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 254-264) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed November 7, 2013).

ISBN:

1-61277-467-9

OCLC:

922995212