Sleep Works: Experiments in Science and Literature, 1899?1929 (Hopkins Studies in Modernism)

Klinger, Sebastian P.

ISBN 10: 1421450801 / ISBN 13: 9781421450803

Published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025

About this Item

2025. paperback. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9781421450803

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Sleep Works: Experiments in Science and Literature, 1899?1929 (Hopkins Studies in Modernism)
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1421450801
• ISBN 13: 9781421450803
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

An exploration of sleep at the intersection of literature, science, and pharmacology in the early twentieth century.

At the turn of the twentieth century, sleep began to be seen not merely as a passive state but as an active, dynamic process crucial to our understanding of consciousness and identity. In Sleep Works, cultural historian and literary scholar Sebastian P. Klinger explores the intriguing connections between scientific inquiry and literary expression during an era when sleep was both a scientific mystery and a cultural fascination.

Scientists, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies were at the forefront of this newfound fascination with sleep: some researchers distinguished sleep from related states such as fatigue and hypnosis, while others investigated sleep disorders and developed treatments for insomnia. Meanwhile, literary giants like Franz Kafka and Marcel Proust grappled with their own sleep disturbances and channeled these experiences into their writing. Through the lens of their discoveries, Klinger reveals the broader implications of sleep for concepts of selfhood and agency.

Tracing the emergence of interdisciplinary sleep science and the cultural production of sleep through literature, Sleep Works weaves together literary analysis, historical context, and research in the archives of the pharmaceutical industry to provide a comprehensive and compelling account of how sleep has been understood, represented, and experienced in the modern era.

About the Author

Sebastian P. Klinger is a researcher and teacher-scholar in the department of German Studies at the University of Vienna, as well as an Honorary Faculty Research Fellow in Modern Languages at the University of Oxford.