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Techno-Utopias: Virtual and Utopian Spaces in Literature from the Industrial Revolution to the Computer Revolution

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Techno-Utopias: Virtual and Utopian Spaces in Literature from the Industrial Revolution to the Computer Revolution TECHNO-UTOPIAS: VIRTUAL AND UTOPIAN SPACES IN LITERATURE FROM THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION TO THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION ABSTRACT: This dissertation analyzes the concept of techno-utopias, defined as ideal communities revolving around science and situated in the future. I argue that the faith in science typical of the Industrial Revolution produced a new form of utopia, which led to the representation of virtual spaces in twentieth-century literature and media. From the telegraph to the microcomputer, the dream of machines invaded industrial countries, such as France and the United States. This study examines the fascination with technology present in Villiers’s Ève Future (1886), Zola’s Travail (1901), Marinetti’s manifestos (1909-1924), press articles written by the actors of the Computer Revolution, and Spike Jonze’s film, Her (2013). This work engages with a rich array of theoretical perspectives drawing from various academic disciplines including literature, history of technology, media studies, and philosophy. TECHNO-UTOPIAS: VIRTUAL AND UTOPIAN SPACES IN LITERATURE FROM THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION TO THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED ON THE FIRST DAY OF JUNE 2015 TO THE DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS OF TULANE UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY ELSA STÉPHAN ©Copyright by Elsa Stéphan 2015 All Rights Reserved Stéphan 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1: From Political to Technological Utopias: The Ideal Community in Zola’s Travail ................................................................... 33 1. Technology, condition of the utopia ..................................................................... 39 1.1. The role of politics ........................................................................................ 39 1.2. Technology, the Foundation of the Utopia .................................................... 40 1.3. Technology and Community Spirit ............................................................... 41 1.4. The Influence of Saint-Simon ....................................................................... 43 1.5. The Scientist, the Second Apostle ................................................................. 44 1.6. From Utopias to Science Fiction, From Politics to Science .......................... 46 1.7. The Link between Scientific and Social Progress ......................................... 47 1.8. Saint-Simon and Technocracy....................................................................... 50 1.9. The Popularization of Science: A Political Enterprise .................................. 52 1.10. Le “techno-politique” (Lucien Sfez) ......................................................... 55 1.11. The Concept of Non-modernity (Latour) .................................................. 55 2. Utopian Networks ................................................................................................. 57 2.1 Et la lumière fût: The Electrical Network ..................................................... 58 2.2 Networks and Equality .................................................................................. 64 2.3 Networks and Peace ...................................................................................... 64 2.4 “Retiologie”: the Ideology of Networks in the Writings of Saint-Simon ..... 67 2.5 The Information Highways of the Twentieth Century .................................. 69 2.6 Zola at the World Fair of 1900: the Birth of a Universal Utopia .................. 69 2.7 Electricity and the World Fair of 1900 .......................................................... 74 3. “Technolatry,” the Religion of Technology ......................................................... 76 3.1. Saint-Simon and the Religion of Communication ............................................ 76 3.2. Christianity in Zola’s Novel .......................................................................... 77 3.3 Machines and Fetishes .................................................................................. 80 3.4.“Faitiches” (Bruno Latour) ................................................................................ 84 3.5.The Goddess Electricity ..................................................................................... 86 Stéphan 2 3.6.Heaven on earth ................................................................................................. 87 Chapter 2: Machines and Marvels: Fairy Tale Imagery Villiers’s L’Ève Future ........................................................................................................ 91 1. La Fée Électricité .................................................................................................. 94 1.1. Electricity, the invisible fairy ........................................................................ 94 1.2. The celebration of the electricity fairy at the World Fairs ............................ 99 1.3. Villiers and the ‘merveilleux scientifique’ .................................................. 103 1.4. Electricity in Villiers’ novel, the Scheherazade of The Arabian Nights ..... 104 1.5. Golden machines ......................................................................................... 105 1.6. Marvelous Machines ................................................................................... 106 2. L’Ève Future, a Techno-Utopia .......................................................................... 108 2.1. Technological-magical utopias (Ernst Bloch) ............................................. 109 2.2. The magical function of technology (Gilbert Simondon) ........................... 111 2.3. The “fonction onirique” (Jean Brun) ........................................................... 112 2.4 The intersection of science and arts, reason and imagination ..................... 113 2.5. From scientific fairy tales to science fiction ............................................... 114 3. The Laboratory, a New Heterotopia ................................................................... 115 3.1. The Underground Eden ............................................................................... 116 3.2. Exoticism ..................................................................................................... 118 3.3. Lost Paradise ............................................................................................... 121 Chapter 3: Future Perfect: Time and Utopia in Filippo Marinetti’s Manifestos ............................................................................................... 124 1. Utopia and the Future ......................................................................................... 131 1.1. The Concept of Utopia and the Conscience of Time .................................. 131 1.2. Utopia and the Time-Space Nexus .............................................................. 134 1.3. From a Circular to a Linear Representation of Time .................................. 139 1.4. The Era of Speed ......................................................................................... 140 2. The Notion of Speed in Futurism ....................................................................... 142 2.1. Futurism, a Techno-Utopia ......................................................................... 142 2.2. Speed in Marinetti’s Manifestos ................................................................. 144 Stéphan 3 2.3. Simultaneity ................................................................................................ 149 2.4. Henri Bergson’s Influence on Marinetti ...................................................... 150 3. The Cult of Speed ............................................................................................... 152 3.1. Speed at the Universal Exhibitions: a Race Towards the Future .................... 152 3.2. Marinetti’s 1916 Manifesto “Religion Morale de la Vitesse” ..................... 155 3.3. Übermensch (Nietzsche) ................................................................................. 157 3.4.Millenarianism ................................................................................................. 159 Chapter 4: From Utopian Spaces to Virtual Worlds .............................. 164 1 From Utopian Spaces to Virtual Worlds: the Birth of the Internet ..................... 168 1.1 The Internet Imaginaire .............................................................................. 168 1.1.1 Happiness and Unity ...................................................................................... 169 1.1.2 Perfection ....................................................................................................... 170 1.1.3 Community Spirit ........................................................................................... 172 1.1.4 Peace .............................................................................................................. 174 1.1.5 Democracy ..................................................................................................... 176 1.2 Waves and Webs: the Travel Metaphors of the Internet ............................. 179 2 What is a Virtual Space?..................................................................................... 182 2.1 The Contemporary Definitions .................................................................... 182 2.2 Espaces Autres
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