Imagining Solar Energy: The Power Of The Sun In Literature, Science And Culture (explorations In Science And Literature)

Shortlisted for the 2022 ESSE Book Awards How has humanity sought to harness the power of the Sun, and what roles have literature, art and other cultural forms played in imagining, mythologizing and reflecting the possibilities of solar energy? What stories have been told about solar technologies, and how have these narratives shaped developments in science and culture? What can solar power's history tell us about its future, within a world adapting to climate crisis? Identifying the history of capturing solar radiance as a focal point between science and the imagination, Imagining Solar Energy argues that the literary, artistic and mythical resonances of solar power – from the Renaissance to the present day – have not only been inspired by, but have also cultivated and sustained its scientific and technological development. Ranging from Archimedes to Isaac Asimov, John Dee to Humphry Davy, Aphra Behn to J. G. Ballard, the book argues that solar energy translates into many different kinds of power (physical, political, intellectual and cultural), and establishes for the first time the importance of solar energy to many literary and scientific endeavours. Title Copyright Contents Illustrations Acknowledgements Series preface Introduction Chapter 1: Solar Renaissance:Through the burning-glass Archimedean dreams Alchemies of the Sun Burning news and parabolical fictions Shining heads and smoking hearts Glass vessels Chapter 2: Bundling up the Sunbeams:Burning into the Enlightenment Tricks of the light Handy Villette and the Sun king Making light matter Meditation, myth and celestial satire Demonstration, delight and discovery Heavenly machines Chapter 3: Feeling the Promethean heat:Romantic radiance and the powerof invisible light Combustible minds Dissecting the sunbeams Uncertain gleams Sun-treaders Chapter 4: A time of ‘solidified sunshine’:Victorian imaginaries of solar energy Keeping the flame alive Browning in the Sun Sun from Newcastle The great storehouse Engines of light Heat-Rays and heliographs Selenium stories Chapter 5: Bright futures:Solar science fiction takes off Solar fictions and frauds Cold light Pulp fictions of power planets Global warnings Chapter 6: Dark mirrors:Solar reflections in the nuclear age Cloudbusting Silicon heroes Chapter 7: Self-renewable:The satire and psycho-thermodynamics of solar Hot properties Peripheral visions Celling the Sun Decentralizing the Sun After Sun Notes Introduction: Bringing the Sun into focus Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Selected bibliography Primary sources Secondary sources Index For centuries humanity has dreamed of harnessing the power of the sun: Imagining Solar Energy traces the history of these dreams as they have been expressed in literature, art and popular culture from the Renaissance to the present day. From John Milton through the Romantic-period writers such as Shelley and Goethe to the golden age science fiction of Isaac Asimov and contemporary writers such as Ian McEwan, the book shows how the possibilities of solar energy have captured the imagination of writers and artists and in turn shaped developments in science, culture and technology.