1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910970109903321

Autore

Underwood Ted

Titolo

The Work of the Sun : Literature, Science, and Political Economy, 1760-1860 / / by T. Underwood

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Palgrave Macmillan US : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2005

ISBN

9786611365431

9781281365439

1281365432

9781403981905

1403981906

Edizione

[1st ed. 2005.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (253 p.)

Disciplina

820.9/36

Soggetti

Science - Philosophy

Physics - Study and teaching

Poetry

Fiction

European literature - Renaissance, 1450-1600

European literature

Philosophy of Science

Education in Physics

Poetry and Poetics

Fiction Literature

Early Modern and Renaissance Literature

European Literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [221]-233) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Contents; Acknowledgments; List of Abbreviations; List of Illustrations; Introduction; 1 Light as Fluid Agency; 2 Energy and the Autonomy of Middle-Class Work; 3 Apollo, God of Enterprise; 4 Cowper's Spontaneous Task; 5 Wordsworth and the Homelessness of Engines; 6 Sunlight and the Reification of Culture; 7 Energy Becomes Labor: The Role of Engineering Theory; 8 Productivism and the



Popularization of the First Law of Thermodynamics; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Sommario/riassunto

At the end of the Eighteenth century, British writers began to celebrate work in a strangely indirect way. Instead of describing diligence as an attribute of character, poets and novelists increasingly identified work with impersonal 'energies' akin to natural force. Chemists traced mental and muscular work back to its source in sunlight, giving rise to the claim (beloved by Nineteenth-century journalists) that 'all the labour done under the sun is really done by it'. The Work of The Sun traces the emergence of this model of work, exploring its sources in middle-class consciousness and its implications for British literature and science.