Claire Barel-Moisan, a CNRS research fellow and member of IHRIM, and Delphine Gleizes, a professor of 19th-century French literature at the University of Grenoble-Alpes, have published Merveilles électriques: Literature, Visual Culture, and Popularization (1740–1940) with Savoirs en textes.
Merveilles électriques Littérature, culture visuelle et vulgarisation (1740-1940)
Claire Barel-Moisan et Delphine Gleizes
Éditions Savoirs en textes
Based on the “Merveilles électriques” symposium held in November 2016, this book explores how electricity shaped the collective imagination, cultural practices, and social representations from the 18th century through the interwar period. At the intersection of the history of science, literature, visual culture, and the media, it demonstrates how this major discovery fueled both popular discourse and artistic creation. From the spectacular experiments of the salons of the Enlightenment to the World’s Fairs of the Belle Époque, electricity emerged as a symbol of modernity, sparking fascination, hope, and anxiety. Bringing together contributions from numerous specialists, the book sheds light on the circulation of knowledge, images, and narratives that accompanied the advent of the “fairy Electricity” and permanently transformed our relationship with the world.
Excerpt from the back cover
Subject of spectacular experiments in 18th-century salons, electricity gradually revolutionized every aspect of life. During the Belle Époque, it transformed cities, transportation, and communications, while astonishing crowds at world’s fairs and on Parisian stages. Omnipresent in the press, literature, and visual culture, its depictions shaped a powerful imagination of modernity, oscillating between fascination, hope, and fear. Beyond a technical revolution, electricity thus came to embody the values of a changing society: speed, intensity, and a new relationship with time. From popular entertainment to the avant-garde, it stimulated artistic creativity and spurred the invention of new aesthetics. From the Enlightenment to the interwar period, this book explores two centuries during which the “fairy” Electricity profoundly transformed social life and culture.