"Tools and the man" : Samuel Smiles, lives of the engineers, and the machine in Victorian literature.

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dc.contributor.advisorPrickett, Stephen.
dc.contributor.authorSalvey, Courtney.
dc.contributor.departmentEnglish.en
dc.contributor.otherBaylor University. Dept. of English.en
dc.date.accessioned2009-08-26T11:10:26Z
dc.date.available2009-08-26T11:10:26Z
dc.date.copyright2009-08
dc.date.issued2009-08-26T11:10:26Z
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (p. 78-87).en
dc.description.abstractWhile Victorian responses to the machine varied greatly, a distinct literary strain emerged with Carlyle and ran through Ruskin and Dickens which understood the machine as a threat to human agency. In their fear, they focused on machinery itself as sublime or horrible. Samuel Smiles's series of engineering biographies, entitled Lives of the Engineers, argues against this position by highlighting the engineer, the human element, who creates and controls the machine. Interacting with concepts from Carlyle, Smiles's biographies show engineers as Captains of Industry, dynamic men who shape themselves and lead others. By combining a narrative of these self-made men with a narrative of technological history, Smiles shows that machines are products of human agency rather than threats to it. This presentation facilitates the inclusion of engineers in subsequent works by Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Kingsley, George Eliot, and Rudyard Kipling.en
dc.description.degreeM.A.en
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityby Courtney Salvey.en
dc.format.extentv, 87 p.en
dc.format.extent197892 bytes
dc.format.extent565182 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2104/5421
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.rightsBaylor University theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact librarywebmaster@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.en
dc.rights.accessrightsWorldwide accessen
dc.rights.accessrightsAccess changed 11-14-11.
dc.subjectSmiles, Samuel, 1812-1904 -- Criticism and interpretation.en
dc.subjectSmiles, Samuel, 1812-1904. Lives of the engineers.en
dc.subjectMachinery in literature.en
dc.subjectEnglish literature -- 19th century.en
dc.subjectTechnology in literature.en
dc.subjectEngineers in literature.en
dc.title"Tools and the man" : Samuel Smiles, lives of the engineers, and the machine in Victorian literature.en
dc.typeThesisen

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