Networks of Improvement: Literature, Bodies, and Machines in the Industrial Revolution

In his book "Networks of Improvement," Jon Mee provides a new perspective on the Industrial Revolution by focusing on the unintended consequences of enlightened liberal reform. He argues that the project of industrialization led to coercive forms of machine productivity and that the writing, practices, and institutions of industrial towns developed a new knowledge economy.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 10 October 2023
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

A comprehensive and innovative literary-cultural history of the Industrial Revolution in Britain from the late eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries emerges in the work of Jon Mee. Mee challenges the prevailing portrayal of the Industrial Revolution as a dark and malevolent era by presenting it as a narrative of unintended consequences. In his book Networks of Improvement, Mee delves into a diverse array of texts, including economic, medical, and conventionally literary materials, with a keen focus on their circulation within networks and institutions. Through his analysis, Mee demonstrates how a project of enlightened liberal reform articulated in Britain's emerging manufacturing towns gave rise to unexpectedly coercive forms of machine productivity, a pattern that echoes in the digital technologies of our contemporary world. Instead of viewing the Industrial Revolution as an "other" to Romanticism, Mee showcases how writing, practices, and institutions originating from these industrial towns cultivated a new knowledge economy. Local literary and philosophical societies played pivotal roles in transmitting knowledge, fostering a vibrant intellectual community that transcended geographical boundaries. Mee's work offers a fresh perspective on the Industrial Revolution, challenging traditional narratives and illuminating the complex interplay between literature, culture, and economic development in this pivotal period of British history.

Weight: 464g
Dimension: 153 x 230 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780226828381