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This innovative book reveals the full extent of electricity's significance in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century culture. Ranging across a vast array of materials, Sam Halliday shows how electricity functioned as both a means of representing "other" things--from love and solidarity to embodiment and temporality--and as an object of representation in its own right. As well as Hawthorne, Melville, Twain and James, the book considers other major American writers such as Whitman, Margaret Fuller and Henry Adams; English writers such as Hardy and Kipling; and a galaxy of scientists and social commentators, including mesmerists, physicians, conspiracy theorists, psychologists and theologians.
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Science and Technology in the Age of Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, and James
American Literature Readings in the 21st Century Series Editor: Linda Wagner-Martin American Literature Readings in the 21st Century publishes works by contemporary critics that help shape critical opinion regarding literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the United States. Published by Palgrave Macmillan Freak Shows in Modern American Imagination: Constructing the Damaged Body from Willa Cather to Truman Capote By Thomas Fahy Arab American Literary Fictions, Cultures, and Politics By Steven Salaita Women and Race in Contemporary U.S. Writing: From Faulkner to Morrison By Kelly Lynch Reames Science and Technology in the Age of Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, and James: Thinking and Writing Electricity By Sam Halliday
Science and Technology in the Age of Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, and James Thinking and Writing Electricity
Sam Halliday
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE AGE OF HAWTHORNE, MELVILLE, TWAIN, AND JAMES
© Sam Halliday, 2007. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™ 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN-13: 978–1–4039–7672–7 ISBN-10: 1–4039–7672–4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Halliday, Sam. Science and technology in the age of Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, and James : thinking and writing electricity / Sam Halliday. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 1–4039–7672–4 (alk.paper) 1. Science—United States—History––19th century. 2. Technology––United States––History––19th century. 3. Electricity––United States––History––19th century. 4. Literature and science––United States––History––19th century. I. Title. Q127.U6H265 2007 509.73⬘09034––dc22
2007061160
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: June 2007 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America.
To my parents, Tim and Carolyn
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P e r m i s s i on s
I would like to thank L’Harmattan for permission to republish portions of my essay, “George Beard, Electricity, and the Nervous Body in the Nineteenth-Century,” first published in Homo Orthopedicus: Le corps et ses prosthèses à l’époque (post)moderniste, ed. Nathalie Roelens and Wanda Strauven (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2001), 76–86, and Oxford University Press for permission to republish portions of my article, “Deceit, Desire and Technology: A Media History of Secr