The Lives of Machines: The Industrial Imaginary in Victorian Literature and Culture

Today we commonly describe ourselves as machines that ""let off steam"" or feel ""under pressure."" The Lives of Machines investigates how Victorian technoculture came to shape this language of human emotion so pervasively and irrevocably and argues that nothing is more intensely human and affecting...

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Huvudupphov: Tamara Ketabgian
Materialtyp: Online
Språk:engelska
Utgiven: University of Michigan Press 2021
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author Tamara Ketabgian
author_browse Tamara Ketabgian
author_facet Tamara Ketabgian
author_sort Tamara Ketabgian
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description Today we commonly describe ourselves as machines that ""let off steam"" or feel ""under pressure."" The Lives of Machines investigates how Victorian technoculture came to shape this language of human emotion so pervasively and irrevocably and argues that nothing is more intensely human and affecting than the nonhuman. Tamara Ketabgian explores the emergence of a modern and more mechanical view of human nature in Victorian literature and culture. Treating British literature from the 1830s to the 1870s, this study examines forms of feeling and community that combine the vital and the mechanical, the human and the nonhuman, in surprisingly hybrid and productive alliances. Challenging accounts of industrial alienation that still persist, the author defines mechanical character and feeling not as erasures or negations of self, but as robust and nuanced entities in their own right. The Lives of Machines thus offers an alternate cultural history that traces sympathies between humans, animals, and machines in novels and nonfiction about factory work as well as in other unexpected literary sites and genres, whether domestic, scientific, musical, or philosophical. Ketabgian historicizes a model of affect and community that continues to inform recent theories of technology, psychology, and the posthuman. The Lives of Machines will be of interest to students of British literature and history, history of science and of technology, novel studies, psychoanalysis, and postmodern cultural studies.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-518972025-02-04T09:18:09Z The Lives of Machines: The Industrial Imaginary in Victorian Literature and Culture Tamara Ketabgian PR1-9680 Technology -- Social aspects -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century Machinery in literature Literature and technology -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century Machinery -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism Today we commonly describe ourselves as machines that ""let off steam"" or feel ""under pressure."" The Lives of Machines investigates how Victorian technoculture came to shape this language of human emotion so pervasively and irrevocably and argues that nothing is more intensely human and affecting than the nonhuman. Tamara Ketabgian explores the emergence of a modern and more mechanical view of human nature in Victorian literature and culture. Treating British literature from the 1830s to the 1870s, this study examines forms of feeling and community that combine the vital and the mechanical, the human and the nonhuman, in surprisingly hybrid and productive alliances. Challenging accounts of industrial alienation that still persist, the author defines mechanical character and feeling not as erasures or negations of self, but as robust and nuanced entities in their own right. The Lives of Machines thus offers an alternate cultural history that traces sympathies between humans, animals, and machines in novels and nonfiction about factory work as well as in other unexpected literary sites and genres, whether domestic, scientific, musical, or philosophical. Ketabgian historicizes a model of affect and community that continues to inform recent theories of technology, psychology, and the posthuman. The Lives of Machines will be of interest to students of British literature and history, history of science and of technology, novel studies, psychoanalysis, and postmodern cultural studies. 2021-02-11T17:56:35Z 2021-02-11T17:56:35Z 2012-04-06 14:29:55 2011 book 14509 9780472051403 9780472071401 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/51897 eng image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=2526592 http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.9544598.0001.001 University of Michigan Press b7359529-e5f7-4510-a59f-d7dafa1d4d17 9780472051403 9780472071401 open access
spellingShingle PR1-9680
Technology -- Social aspects -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
Machinery in literature
Literature and technology -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
Machinery -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism
Tamara Ketabgian
The Lives of Machines: The Industrial Imaginary in Victorian Literature and Culture
title The Lives of Machines: The Industrial Imaginary in Victorian Literature and Culture
title_full The Lives of Machines: The Industrial Imaginary in Victorian Literature and Culture
title_fullStr The Lives of Machines: The Industrial Imaginary in Victorian Literature and Culture
title_full_unstemmed The Lives of Machines: The Industrial Imaginary in Victorian Literature and Culture
title_short The Lives of Machines: The Industrial Imaginary in Victorian Literature and Culture
title_sort lives of machines the industrial imaginary in victorian literature and culture
topic PR1-9680
Technology -- Social aspects -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
Machinery in literature
Literature and technology -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
Machinery -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism
topic_facet PR1-9680
Technology -- Social aspects -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
Machinery in literature
Literature and technology -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
Machinery -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism
url 14509
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