THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO TECHNOCRATIC EVOLUTION: EXPERIMENTAL NATURALISM AND AMERICAN BIOPOLITICS AROUND 1900 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY JOHN U. NEF COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL THOUGHT BY AGNES MALINOWSKA CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2018 Every important development in science contributes to the popular consciousness, and indeed to philosophy, some new conception which serves for a time as a most valuable category of classification and explanation. John Dewey, from “The New Psychology,” 1884 The fleeting systems lapse like foam. George Sterling, from “The Testimony of the Suns,” 1901 CONTENTS Acknowledgments iv Abstract x Introduction 1 A New American “Order of Things”: Evolution in the Machine Age Chapter One 24 “In the cleansing country air the slum cannot exist”: Jack London’s Suburban Annexations Chapter Two 60 Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Fungal Female Animal: Evolution, Efficiency, and The Reproductive Body Chapter Three 96 Of Microbes and Man-Factories: Mark Twain’s Naturalist Vision for a Global America Chapter Four 155 Frank Norris’s Wheat Theory of Politics: The Anglo-American “Commercial Company” on the Asian Frontier Bibliography 218 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It takes many years to write a dissertation, and the task of finding words to thank all the people who have helped me along the way is quite daunting. But I will give it a shot. First, I thank my dissertation committee—Robert Pippin, Bill Brown, Lisa Ruddick, and Maud Ellmann. I could not have made it through this process without their unfailing patience, generosity, wisdom, and support. Robert Pippin has been an inspiration since the day I began as a student at the Committee on Social Thought—his brilliance and deep commitment to intellectual life continues to motivate my own dedication to scholarship and teaching. Robert is the voice in my head that pushes me to make stronger, more compelling arguments whenever I sit down to write: I thank him for keeping me honest. I have learned tremendously from Bill Brown’s rigorous, inventive historicism, his meticulous attention to critical prose style, his capacity for finding the shining core of any text or argument, and, not least, his deep sense for the life of the nonhuman. Maud Ellmann has been an exceptionally kind champion of this project from the beginning. My work has benefited immensely from Maud’s expert editorial eye and from the many conversations we’ve had throughout my time at the University of Chicago. I owe a special debt to Lisa Ruddick for her generosity and support years ago when I was first started making the transition to literary studies. Lisa taught me how to turn my instincts and ambitions into a real dissertation, and her prodding, insightful questions as she read my work has done much to strengthen it. If this dissertation makes any contribution at all to American literary and culture studies, this is largely because of Lisa. I would also like to acknowledge the late Hubert Dreyfus, my most important teacher at the University of California at Berkeley, where I earned my undergraduate degree. Professor iv Dreyfus taught me to love philosophy, to feel the excitement and joy of thinking deeply about a text, of talking through difficult ideas with others. I would not have been able to finish the PhD without learning this joy; the stress and frustration that comes with academic work would sure not be sustainable and maybe not even worthwhile without it. Professor Dreyfus was a shining light in the world, and he is missed by the countless students who he inspired. I would be remiss not to thank the many incredible, passionate scholars at Chicago who have read my work, encouraged my interests, and generously allowed me to learn from them. There are too many to name. Thank you, in particular: Lorraine Daston, Arnold Davidson, Heather Keenleyside, Mark Payne, Gabriel Richardson Lear, Jonathan Lear, Glen Most, Thomas Pavel, Robert J. Richardson, and Eric Santner. I am also very lucky to have had the generous support of the Committee on Social Thought all these years. I still marvel everyday that you accepted me into your ranks. I am grateful for the tremendous financial aid I have received and for the freedom to determine my own intellectual journey during my time at Chicago. Doing things your own way, as we do in the Committee, is difficult—and it has certainly kept me in graduate school longer than if I had chosen a more traditional program. But, then, I would have had to have been a more traditional scholar. Thanks, in no small part, to the Committee, I am coming out of graduate school with an even deeper enthusiasm for thinking broadly across the humanities—to reading literature, philosophy, and history always in relation to one another. The commitment to reading texts closely and discussing them freely, with great attention to nuance, that I learned at the Committee continues to motivate my scholarship and teaching everyday. v I would also like to thank the faculty and students of the English department for welcoming me so readily—for taking me seriously despite my outsider status and for sharing resources and wisdom freely. Thank you in particular to Jon Schroeder, who, along with Lisa, has been immensely helpful and encouraging as I stumbled my way through an education in American studies. Jon taught me a great deal about the meaning of ‘professionalization,’ and, more importantly, is one of the most loyal, kind, and fun friends that I have made here. His dedication and sincere passion for his work continues to motivate my own. Academic work can be quite lonely: I owe a great deal to the community of friends, colleagues, and fellow travelers I have gotten to know at Chicago over the years. Your warmth, good humor, intelligence, sense of beauty, and ethical and political commitments have kept me going through the hardest times. Thank you, in particular: Clancey D’Isa, Emily Dupree, Nick Gaskill, Dawn Herrera Helphand, Bill Hutchison, Birte Loeschenkohl, Katherine Mershon, Michael Subialka, Hannah Mosher, Francey Russell, Harrison Sherrod, Hank Scotch, Lauren Silvers, and Dan Wyche. I would also like to thank the Literature and Philosophy workshop, the American Literature and Culture workshop, and the Animal/Nonhuman workshop. The workshop system at Chicago has given me a space to explore ideas freely, boldly, and without fear of judgment. I am so grateful for what I have learned from these workshops and for the community they have offered me. I would like to thank, in particular, Joela Jacobs, who helped me to start the Animal/Nonhuman workshop along with Bill Hutchison and Katharine Mershon. Joela has become a trusted friend and incredible collaborator. I continue to learn from her probing insights into literature and culture, as well as her dedication to her scholarship. vi The friends I have made in the city of Chicago over the years have greatly enriched my sense of what it means to lead a passionate, committed life outside the walls of the so-called ivory tower. Just as importantly, you have made me laugh, brought joy and fun to my life, and, in general, made this city feel like my home. Eiren Cafall, Eric Fleischauer, Gabe Klinger, Tom Krell, Ben Remsen, and Dean Renaud continue to inspire and teach me. Lucian Chase and Eddy Crouse deserve a special shout-out: Lucian has come to be one of my favorite interlocutors, funniest jokers, and most trusted confidantes and allies. I marvel regularly at Eddy’s untiring commitment to his loved ones, wonderful eccentricities, and, not least, incredible aesthetic sense and remarkable eye for visual narrative. This project owes a great deal to the many conversations I have had with these friends, the many ways that they have helped me to see the world, to access the great living tradition of art and philosophy that make the human condition—despite its terrible flaws—a worthwhile enterprise. It is hard to overestimate the debt I owe to the MA Program in the Humanities, my fellow preceptors, the staff, the students, and in particular, our director, Hilary Strang. MAPH has been my second home over the last few years of completing the PhD: The work we do has greatly strengthened my commitment to academic life and, even more so, given me a model of the kind of academic I want to be. Hilary has been a true mentor for me at MAPH. I am regularly amazed by her exceptional mind and her unusual capacity for building an academic community that is at once incredibly rigorous and incredibly fun. I also thank my fellow preceptors, and in particular, Dustin Brown, Chris Carloy, Darrel Chia, Matt Hauske, Anna Lee, Tristan Schweiger, Megan Tusler, and Daniel Smyth. They have been matchless colleagues and friends, and I have learned as much from them, and from the work we do together, as I have from my time as a student at vii Chicago. Finally, I would like to thank the many wonderful MAPH students I have taught over the years. The hard work they accomplish every year regularly motivates me to push myself harder, to try always to think better thoughts. Special thanks are due to my precept of the 2017- 18 academic year, for the support and encouragement they offered me as I was finishing this project. Thank you, also, to Jess Hannah—forever my favorite student, no matter who comes after, and now a great friend. There are people in the world that will be with me no matter what I do, no matter who I become. They are my anchors and my home, always, wherever I land; and they have sustained my heart and spirit through the many difficult years of finishing this project.