Sleep Fictions: Rest and Its Deprivations in Progressive-Era Literature

The literary response to the dawning cult of wakefulness in the late 19th and early 20th centuries explored the impact of new technologies and the electric light on sleep habits and American culture. Huber analyzes the works of Henry James, Edith Wharton, Charles Chesnutt, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman to examine the exhaustion faced by characters in a modern world permeated by artificial light, traffic noise, and social pressure. She highlights how these writers rebutted Americans confidence in the bodys ability to conquer sleep with vivid portraits of the consequences of sleep disruption and deprivation.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 200 pages
Publication date: 21 November 2023
Publisher: University of Illinois Press

A surge of innovative technologies and the profound influence of electric light in the early 20th century revolutionized not only individual sleeping patterns but also the way American culture perceived and valued sleep. In her comprehensive analysis, Hannah L. Huber delves into the literary responses to the prevailing obsession with wakefulness, encompassing the works of Henry James, Edith Wharton, Charles Chesnutt, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. These writers challenged the boundaries between public and private realms, creating characters who grappled with exhaustion in a modern world saturated with artificial light, traffic noise, and societal pressures to remain active around the clock. The relentless cultural clock and constant stress over physical limitations had a particularly profound impact on marginalized individuals. Huber's study highlights how these writers subverted American beliefs in the body's ability to overcome sleep through vivid portrayals of the devastating consequences of sleep disruption and deprivation. Additionally, the author offers a website and text visualization tool, providing readers with an interdisciplinary, deconstructed exploration of the books' primary texts. This resource can be accessed at: https://sleepfictions.org/sleep/scalar/index

Weight: 338g
Dimension: 152 x 230 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780252087523