GIRDLING THE GLOBE, NETWORKING THE WORLD – A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN VICTORIAN BRITAIN, 1838 – 1871 Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Heidelberg, vorgelegt von Jessica Karagöl Erstgutachter: PD Dr. Roland Wenzlhuemer Zweitgutachterin: Prof. Dr. Madeleine Herren-Oesch Eingereicht am: 10.12.2013 Abstract The nineteenth century witnessed the emergence of an unprecedented global transport and communication infrastructure in shape of steamships, railways, telegraph landlines and submarine cables and related engineering works, such as canals and railway tunnels. For various reasons, Great Britain could position itself at the centre of these new networks. Their ramifications on various spheres, such as global trade and the conduct of imperial policy, have received sustained scholarly attention. An in-depth analysis of the general public’s reactions to the burgeoning infrastructure and the technologies involved, however, has not been carried out. Providing a discourse analysis of the various technologies’ representation in Victorian print publications, this dissertation closes this gap. Focusing specifically on the newly established connections between Britain and India, on the one hand, and Britain and the United States, on the other, it investigates contemporaries’ attitudes, perceptions and expectations and shows that in many ways, Victorian approaches anticipated postmodern analyses. For this, specific events have been selected and were monitored in a variety of British newspapers, magazines and other relevant printed material of the time. In so doing, this dissertation reveals that Victorian approaches towards technology reached beyond simplistic technological determinist beliefs and that their understanding of changing spatiotemporal arrangements was more sophisticated than the oft-quoted phrase of the ‘annihilation of time and space’ suggests. Further, it reveals the social and cultural frameworks into which these transport and communication technologies were embedded and illustrates the role they were given in the context of the formation of collective identities and interstate rivalries. I Acknowledgements The writing of this dissertation has been a long process and over the years I have received guidance and support from many individuals and institutions. The Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe in a Global Context” at Heidelberg University has provided a stimulating working environment, a workspace and a three-year stipend. Without the Cluster’s financial support, my various research trips and the participation in international conferences would not have been possible. I am deeply indebted to my primary supervisor PD Dr. Roland Wenzlhuemer, who always seemed to believe in me and encouraged me to move on and to dig deeper. I am also grateful to my second supervisor, Prof. Dr. Madeleine Herren-Oesch, and the staff of the Graduate Programme for Transcultural Studies, Dr. Nic Leonhardt, Dr. Kerstin von Lingen and Oliver Lamers, who, each in their own way, provided support, guidance and help whenever I needed it. Over the years, my GPTS colleagues have been most helpful, providing advice, support and entertainment. I explicitly would like to thank Marie Sander for sharing both the good and the not-quite-so-good times. Staff at the British Library, the British Library Newspaper Department, the BT Archives, and the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin have most patiently answered all my questions. I am also grateful to the Centre for British Studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where I always felt welcome. Dr. Kevin McGinley (University of Tampere), a true-born Scotsman, deserves credit for responding to my manifold queries and for a truly transcultural friendship. It has almost been ten years since I took a class on le roman scientifique during my undergraduate studies, and ever since Jules Verne has been a most faithful companion. I owe thanks to Volker Dehs (Göttingen) and Prof. Dr. Ralf Junkerjürgen (University of Regensburg) for sharing their seemingly infinite knowledge on him with me and for answering my questions spontaneously on the phone. For moral support, patience, comments, detailed suggestions for various versions of this work, for laughter and distraction, for bearing with me, for listening to all my litanies of self-doubt, and, as far as I know, for still being my friends, thank you: Elisabeth Beathalter, Kristin Binder, Alexander von Freeden, Birgit Grabenstein, Stefanie Keller, Daniel Klöcker, Bianca Stavrou and Krystyna Swiatek. Finally, I would like to dedicate this work to Angela and Hugh John and their truly invaluable support. Whenever and for whatever reason I came to London, I received a warm welcome, a cup of tea, insights into the subtleties of the English language, the intricacies of being Welsh and the game of squash. My research trips would have been very lonesome without them. It must be one of the most clichéd phrases ever, but I lack words to say how grateful I am. II Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................ I Acknowledgements ..................................................................................... II 1. Introduction ........................................................................................... 1 1.1 Relevance and Purpose of Dissertation ............................................................. 7 1.2 Objects of Study and Methodological Approaches ......................................... 13 1.3 Reading the Past – Victorian Newspapers and Periodicals as Primary Sources ......................................................................................................................... 19 1.3.1 Education, Literacy and Access to Print Publications ................................. 19 1.3.2 Victorian Press Market ................................................................................ 21 1.3.3 Selected Publications ................................................................................... 23 1.4 Literature Review ............................................................................................ 30 1.5 Chapter Structure ............................................................................................. 46 2. Of Iron Horses and Floating Towns – The Development of Global Transport and Communication Infrastructure in the Nineteenth Century ................................................................................................ 49 2.1 Steamships ....................................................................................................... 50 2.1.1 From Wood to Iron – Early Developments and First Atlantic Crossings ... 52 2.1.2 Steaming East – Steamships and Routes to India........................................ 56 2.1.3 The Suez Canal – Water Highway to the East ............................................ 59 2.2 Railways ........................................................................................................... 64 2.2.1 Alpine Railways and the Acceleration of Communication between Britain and India ...................................................................................................... 68 2.3 Early Telecommunications – The Electric Telegraph ..................................... 71 2.3.1 From Optical to Electric Telegraphs – First Steps towards Instantaneous Communication ........................................................................................... 72 III 2.3.2 Girdling the Globe – the Establishment of a Worldwide System of Electric Telegraphy ................................................................................................... 75 2.4 The Great Exhibition of 1851 – Technological Developments on Display ..... 78 2.5 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................ 81 3. Technology and Society – Reflections on a Complex Relationship 82 3.1 Technological Determinism vs. Social Determination of Technology ............ 82 3.2 Actors, Artefacts and Actants: Sociological Technology Studies ................... 86 3.3 Of Progress and Anxiety – Victorian Thought and Technological Determinism ......................................................................................................................... 89 3.4 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................ 95 4. Transport and Communication Technologies in Context(s) – Notions of Progress, Subordinating Nature and the Technological Sublime ................................................................................................. 96 4.1 Transport and Communication Technologies: A Tale of Progress .................. 96 4.2 Playing God? Triumphs over Nature, Christian Beliefs and Human Omnipotence ................................................................................................. 112 4.3 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................... 120 5. The Annihilation of Time and Space? Changing Perceptions of Time, Space and Distance ................................................................ 122 5.1 Of Coexisting Spaces and Distance Paradoxes .............................................. 124 5.2 Less Than No Time – Representations of Spatiotemporal Transformations in the Victorian