Arranging the past, reconsidering the present : the emergence of alternate history in the nineteenth century
This study examines the expression and patterns of alternate history in nineteenth-century Britain and France. âAlternate historyâ refers to the presentation of events that did not happen in order to consider historical trajectories that might have been and the consequent displacements of present and future. The central chapters of this thesis correspond to the three fields of writing in which these texts are clustered: in narratives of undefeated and resurgent Napoleons, which I trace from the rival journalistic claims made about Napoleon and his historical significance; in accounts that re-imagine the transition from antiquity to modernity, for example by delaying the passage of Christianity from the Middle East to western Europe; and, as part of the plurality-of-worlds debate, in the popular-astronomical imagination of variant versions of human history upon other planets. Three patterns of alternate history are discernible: the romantic-utopian, the critical-reflexive and the linear-chronological. I attach to these patterns the figures of the garden, the map and the dial. These models do not correspond to the three temporal fields of the recent, antique and planetary past, and there is not a straightforward
Carver, Ben
Alternate History, Historiography, Victorian Studies, Utopias, Astronomy, Antiquity, Napleon
Arranging the past, reconsidering the present : the emergence of alternate history in the nineteenth century. This study examines the expression and patterns of alternate history in nineteenth-century Britain and France. âAlternate historyâ refers to the presentation of events that did not happen in order to consider historical trajectories that might have been and the consequent displacements of present and future. The central chapters of this thesis correspond to the three fields of writing in which these texts are clustered: in narratives of undefeated and resurgent Napoleons, which I trace from the rival journalistic claims made about Napoleon and his historical significance; in accounts that re-imagine the transition from antiquity to modernity, for example by delaying the passage of Christianity from the Middle East to western Europe; and, as part of the plurality-of-worlds debate, in the popular-astronomical imagination of variant versions of human history upon other planets. Three patterns of alternate history are discernible: the romantic-utopian, the critical-reflexive and the linear-chronological. I attach to these patterns the figures of the garden, the map and the dial. These models do not correspond to the three temporal fields of the recent, antique and planetary past, and there is not a straightforward
past reconsider present emergence alternate history study examine expression pattern alternate history nineteenth_century britain_france alternate history refers presentation event happen order_consider historical trajectory might consequent displacement present_future central correspond field write_text cluster narrative trace rival journalistic claim_make napoleon historical_significance account imagine transition antiquity modernity example delay passage christianity middle_east western_europe part plurality debate popular astronomical imagination variant version human_history upon planet pattern alternate history discernible romantic utopian critical reflexive linear chronological attach pattern figure garden map model correspond temporal field recent antique past straightforward