Format:
1 Online-Ressource (x, 225 Seiten)
,
Illustrationen
Edition:
1. published
ISBN:
9781526151971
Series Statement:
Interventions: rethinking the nineteenth century
Content:
This book explores the vogue for home aquaria that spread through Great Britain around the middle of the nineteenth century. The marine tank, perfected and commercialised in the early 1850s, was advertised as a marvel of modernity, a source of endless entertainment and a tool providing useful and edifying knowledge; it was meant to surprise, bringing a profoundly unfamiliar experience right to the heart of the home and providing a vista on the submarine world, at the time still largely unknown. Thanks to an interdisciplinary approach, this book offers an example of how the study of a specific object can be used to address a broad spectrum of issues: the Victorian home tank became in fact a site of intersection between scientific, technological, and cultural trends; it engaged with issues of class, gender, nationality and inter-species relations, drawing together home décor and ideals of domesticity, travel and tourism, exciting discoveries in marine biology, and emerging tensions between competing views of science; due to the close connection between tank keeping and seaside studies, it also marked an important moment in the development of a burgeoning environmental awareness. Through the analysis of a wide range of sources, including aquarium manuals, articles in the periodical press and fictional works, The Victorian aquarium unearths the historical significance of a resonant object, arguing that, for Victorians, the home tank was both a mirror and a window: it opened views on the underwater world, while reflecting the knowledge, assumptions, and preoccupations of its owners.
Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-220) and index
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9781526151964
Additional Edition:
ISBN 1526151960
Additional Edition:
Erscheint auch als Druck-Ausgabe Granata, Silvia The Victorian aquarium Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2021 ISBN 9781526151964
Additional Edition:
ISBN 1526151960
Language:
English
Keywords:
Großbritannien
;
Aquarium
;
Literatur
;
Innenarchitektur
;
Alltagskultur
;
Großbritannien
;
Aquarium
;
Geschichte 1800-1900
DOI:
10.7765/9781526151971
Author information:
Granata, Silvia
