The Romantic Machine: Utopian Science and Technology after Napoleon - Hardcover

Tresch, John

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9780226812205: The Romantic Machine: Utopian Science and Technology after Napoleon
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0226812200 ISBN 13: 9780226812205
Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2012

Synopsis

In the years immediately following Napoleon’s defeat, French thinkers in all fields set their minds to the problem of how to recover from the long upheavals that had been set into motion by the French Revolution. Many challenged the Enlightenment’s emphasis on mechanics and questioned the rising power of machines, seeking a return to the organic unity of an earlier age and triggering the artistic and philosophical movement of romanticism. Previous scholars have viewed romanticism and industrialization in opposition, but in this groundbreaking volume John Tresch reveals how thoroughly entwined science and the arts were in early nineteenth-century France and how they worked together to unite a fractured society.

Focusing on a set of celebrated technologies, including steam engines, electromagnetic and geophysical instruments, early photography, and mass-scale printing, Tresch looks at how new conceptions of energy, instrumentality, and association fueled such diverse developments as fantastic literature, popular astronomy, grand opera, positivism, utopian socialism, and the Revolution of 1848. He shows that those who attempted to fuse organicism and mechanism in various ways, including Alexander von Humboldt and Auguste Comte, charted a road not taken that resonates today.

Essential reading for historians of science, intellectual and cultural historians of Europe, and literary and art historians, The Romantic Machine is poised to profoundly alter our understanding of the scientific and cultural landscape of the early nineteenth century.

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About the Author

John Tresch is professor in the history of art, science, and folk practice at The Warburg Institute at the University of London. 

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Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Publication date
2012
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0226812200
ISBN 13 
9780226812205
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
472
Rating
  • 4.14 out of 5 stars
    51 ratings by Goodreads

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780226214801: The Romantic Machine: Utopian Science and Technology after Napoleon

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  022621480X ISBN 13:  9780226214801
Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2014
Softcover