The Romantic Machine: Utopian Science and Technology After Napoleon

by John Tresch

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.

Genres: History, Technology, History Of Science, 19th Century, Romanticism, Nonfiction, France

469 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 6, 2012

About the author

John Tresch is Associate Professor of History & Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Kate Kuisel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Def written by a man that’s all I’m saying

[Iris Shu · Rating 3 out of 5]

a bit too fantastical for me.. and kinda difficult to get through such dense detail-heavy writing. but appreciate the new perspective on romanticism and STS in general, reoriented my too-strong belief in daston and galison lol

[Cana McGhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

very readable and engaging!!

super enjoyable read that demonstrates the shift in the role of machines and technology in the decades after 1800. tresch beautifully dances through different scientists, philosophies, inventions, and political moments!

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another interesting read on romanticism. Also powerfully challenges the "mechanization of society" stereotype of modernity that fills popular culture and art.

[Dave Nagdeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful book. wonderful account of vitalistic mechanics written in a popular style (though academic idiom) by an extremely intelligent historian/sociologist of science.

[Kevin Orrman-Rossiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review will be here soon!

[Mills College Library]

509.4409 T796 2012