Post on 15-Feb-2017
THE AFTERLIFE OF ETHER
VICTORIAN PSEUDOSCIENCE, ETHER, & JOHN DAVIDSON
Lisa Hagerlisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager
http://bit.ly/tamucc0121Pronouns: she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
THE AFTERLIFE OF ETHER
• The conceptual afterlife of pseudoscientific knowledge• The brief history of ether in the nineteenth century • John Davidson’s use of ether in his poem “Fleet Street” (1909)• Ether’s continued influence on twenty-first century steampunk
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
THE AFTERLIFE OF ETHER
• The conceptual afterlife of pseudoscientific knowledge
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
CONCEPTUAL AFTERLIFE OF PSEUDOSCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE – PHRENOLOGY
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
From People’s Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge (1883)
CONCEPTUAL AFTERLIFE OF PSEUDOSCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE – PHRENOLOGY
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirsA Few of Cesare Lombroso’s Criminal
Types
THE AFTERLIFE OF ETHER
• The conceptual afterlife of pseudoscientific knowledge• The brief history of ether in the nineteenth century
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin
James Clerk Maxwell
ETHER IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
ETHER IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Woodcut of John Davidson by Robert Bryden
Poets of the younger generation 1902 by William
Archer
The Magazine of poetry and literary review, Volume 8 (1896) The Peter Paul Book Company
Contemporary portraits By Frank Harris 1915
James Russell, photographer
Portrait of John Davidson by William Rothenstein
The Yellow Book, Vol. 4 (1895)
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
JOHN DAVIDSON’S “FLEET STREET”
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
Davidson, John. “Epilogue.” The Triumph of Mammon. London: E. Grant Richards, 1907. 161.
JOHN DAVIDSON AND ETHER
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirsLondon: E. Grant Richards,
1909.
JOHN DAVIDSON’S “FLEET STREET”
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
JOHN DAVIDSON’S “FLEET STREET”
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
A bus makes its way down Fleet Street towards St Paul’s Cathedral, London, circa 1888. Photograph: London Stereoscopic Company/Getty
Images
JOHN DAVIDSON’S “FLEET STREET”
1)Read the stanzas and circle any mentions of “ether.”
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
JOHN DAVIDSON’S “FLEET STREET”
1)Read the stanzas and circle any mentions of “ether.”
2)Consider the following questions:• How do you see Davidson using ether?
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
JOHN DAVIDSON’S “FLEET STREET”
1)Read the stanzas and circle any mentions of “ether.”
2)Consider the following questions:• How do you see Davidson using ether? • How does it relate to the street’s bricks, the rings of Saturn or both?
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
JOHN DAVIDSON’S “FLEET STREET”
1)Read the stanzas and circle any mentions of “ether.”
2)Consider the following questions:• How do you see Davidson using ether? • How does it relate to the street’s bricks, the rings of Saturn or both?•What is its function in the vision of the universe that he gives us?
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
JOHN DAVIDSON’S “FLEET STREET”
THE AFTERLIFE OF ETHER
• The conceptual afterlife of pseudoscientific knowledge• The brief history of ether in the nineteenth century • John Davidson’s use of ether in his poem “Fleet Street” (1909)• Ether’s continued influence on twenty-first century steampunk
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager
STEAMPUNK & TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY ETHER
lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || she, her, hers & they, them, theirs
STEAMPUNK & TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY ETHER
THE AFTERLIFE OF ETHER
VICTORIAN PSEUDOSCIENCE, ETHER, & JOHN DAVIDSON
Lisa Hagerlisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager
http://bit.ly/tamucc0121Pronouns: she, her, hers & they, them, theirs