ThermoPoetics
ThermoPoetics Energy in Victorian Literature and Science
Barri J. Gold
The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England
© 2010 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. For information about special quantity discounts, please e-mail special
[email protected] This book was set in Stone serif by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gold, Barri J., 1966– Thermopoetics : energy in Victorian literature and science / Barri J. Gold. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-262-01372-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. English literature—19th century—History and criticism. 2. Physics in literature. 3. Literature and science—Great Britain—History—19th century. I. Title. PR468.S34G65 2010 820'.9'356—dc22 2009019766 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 I am grateful to the Modern Language Association for permission to reprint my article, “The Consolation of Physics: Tennyson’s Thermodynamic Solution” (PMLA 117, no. 3 [May 2002]:449–464), which is revised and included as chapter 1 of this book.
For Andrew and Laney and Kendall
Energy and persistence conquer all things. —Benjamin Franklin
Contents
Acknowledgments I
xi
The Consolation of Physics: Discovery
Prologue: Physics for Poets
1
3
Introduction: That Thing We Do
13
1
Tennyson’s Thermodynamic Solution
II
Energy and Empire: Applications
2
Grand Unified Theories, or Who’s Got GUTs?
3
T