19세기 영국소설에 재현된 열역학 에너지와 세계관 연구

초록

This study aims to examine how the concept of energy thermodynamics is reflected in 19th century English fiction. The concepts of the energy thermodynamics of modern physicists such as Robert von Meyer, Herman von Helmholtz, James Joule, William Thompson, and Rudolf Clausius were so well projected into Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Charles Dickens’s The Bleak House, Samuel Butler’s Erewhon, Robert Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and H. G. Wells’ Time Machine that a close examination of the works would enable us to explore how the concepts shaped the world view of the time as well as how they changed the social and cultural order in the contemporary society. The reason why the concepts of physics were represented in literature is that it had a great influence on the culture and economy as well. Thus, naturally, the writers as the cultured and the intellectuals reflected the concepts of energy thermodynamics in their works at the ontological and epistemological levels. Therefore, the study of the thermodynamics in literature can be an important means to understand the spirit of the times. The discourse of the thermodynamic energy shows how the intellectuals in the nineteenth century began to perceive the world beyond religion through the eyes of science. In that sense, this study can contribute to understanding better the social and cultural orders as well as the people’s worldview of the nineteenth century world.

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