Inventing the Wheels that Enslave
Discoveries, inventions, theories about the origin, age, and size of the
universe, the forces that shaped and animated it during the Romantic period
were liberating to some, oppressive to others. For example, photosynthesis,
which identified the source of life in nature and connected human beings to
the green and growing universe, which some poets celebrated, also placed
human beings metabolically on the same level as their house-pets and domestic
animals. The liberating discovery of infinity, of a timeless and boundless
universe occurred at the same time as the invention of personal time, of
watches and public clocks, which in turn confined people to schedules,
deadlines, and belatedness. The amazing and liberating vision of a universe
endlessly circulating immortal particles turned individuals into a “sad jar
of atoms,” poised always on the edge of dissolution, random survivors in an
alien universe. Science and natural history, like all forms of knowledge in
the period, reflect these fundamental dualities between freedom and
imprisonment, between autonomy and dependence.
Please send proposals exploring these dualities in particular sciences,
natural history, or inventions, their expression in literature, music, art in
Europe, America, and Great Britain. Because the same ideas were received and
assimilated differently in different cultures, geology, for example, in
America and in Europe, comparative inquiries would be most welcome.
Please send 300 word abstracts (as attachments) to Marilyn Gaull (New York
University) at [log in to unmask] by November 17 2006.
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Dr Sharon Ruston
School of Humanities
Keele University
Staffordshire
ST5 5BG
Tel: 01782 584576
http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/en/staff/ruston.htm
Email: [log in to unmask]
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