Description
Book SynopsisThis study explores the explosive history of volcanoes and volcanic thought in eighteenth-century Europe, arguing that the topic of the volcano informed almost all areas of human enquiry and endeavour at the time.
Encountered on the Grand Tour, sought out by scientific explorers or endured by local populations in southern Italy and Iceland, erupting volcanoes were a physical reality for many Europeans in the eighteenth-century. For many others, they represented the very image of overwhelming natural power, whether this was ultimately attributed to spiritual or material causes. As such, the volcano proved an effective and versatile ‘tool for thinking’ in a century which ushered in modernity on several fronts: continental tourism, new earth sciences, the sublime and picturesque in art, industrial and political revolution, the conception of the modern nation-state, and early intimations of environmental and climate change. But the volcano also gives us, in the twenty-first century, a privileged site (as both topography and topos) at which we can reconnect disparate and divided fields of research across the sciences and the humanities.
Drawing on a rich variety of multi-lingual primary sources and the latest critical thinking, this study combines material and symbolic readings of eighteenth-century volcanism, constantly shifting frameworks, so as to consider this topical object through different disciplinary perspectives. The volcano is clearly transnational; this research also demonstrates how it is fundamentally transdisciplinary.
Trade Review'A masterful work rich in detail, organized with compelling logic, and presented with vivid clarity.'
Theodore Ziolkowski,
Modern Language Review'McCallam’s book represents a valuable contribution to the field of the environmental humanities, in which he makes a strong case for atransdisciplinary approach to studying natural phenomena, such as volcanic eruptions and their remnants. This study will be of interest to literary scholars and historians working on the eighteenth century and the Enlightenment as well as to environmental scientists working on volcanic eruptions, as it clearly details the effects these events can have not only on the environment, but also on societies, literature, art, philosophy and politics.'Katrin Kleemann,
English Historical Review'McCallam’s book represents a valuable contribution to the field of the environmental humanities, in which he makes a strong case for a transdisciplinary approach to studying natural phenomena, such as volcanic eruptions and their remnants.'
Katrin Kleemann,
English Historical ReviewTable of ContentsList of illustrationsAcknowledgementsIntroduction
Chapter 1: From locus classicus to cosmopolitan picnic siteThe disturbing discovery of Herculaneum and PompeiiThe classical and empirical on EtnaCuriosity and katabasisGothic picnics on the volcano: Winckelmann and SadeTourist picnics on VesuviusFrom picnic sites to the land of cockaigneIncommensurability and measure
Chapter 2: Two modern ‘Plinies’ and the empirical turnOn the influence of Kircher and chemistryVolcanological theories based on seawaters and electricityThe basalt controversy and the empirical turnVolcanological networks and rival schools of thought
Chapter 3: On the volcanic sublime, its art and artificeEighteenth-century theories of the sublime: Burke and KantThe Alpine sublime and the volcanic sublime
The volcano as tableauThe sublime volcano in artArtificial volcanoesThe uncanny fascination with lavaIndustrial volcanoesFrom the sublime spectacle to the sublime spectator
Chapter 4: More heat than light? Natural philosophies of volcanismAn anti-clerical volcanoThe volcano of popular passionsThe volcano as a source of enlightenmentPrometheus versus Empedocles
Chapter 5: A volcanology of revolution 1789-1794Staging the volcano of revolutionThe volcano and the TerrorJune 1794: Vesuvius and the Terror
Chapter 6: Volcanic Iceland: conquering Hekla and surviving LakiBanks on Staffa and HeklaThe deadliest volcano: Laki 1783Lived experiences of the Laki eruption and its effects 1783-1784Eighteenth-century explanations for volcanogenic weather
ConclusionBibliographyIndex
