Electromagnetism and the Metonymic Imagination

Kieran M. Murphy explores the profound intersection of physics and creativity in Electromagnetism and the Metonymic Imagination, Volume 1. This scholarly work of literary criticism examines how the 1820 discovery of the relationship between electricity and magnetism reshaped both scientific thought and human perception. By analyzing the history of electromagnetism, Murphy demonstrates how these physical forces influenced a reconceptualization of nature. The text investigates how electromagnetic phenomena provided a material foundation for rethinking interconnection and metonymic relations within the natural world.

The study connects the creative leaps of physicists like Michael Faraday and Albert Einstein to the literary experiments of authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and André Breton. Through an analysis of real and imagined devices, this book addresses the philosophical and social aspects of 19th century science. Electromagnetism and the Metonymic Imagination, Volume 1, offers a rigorous look at how electricity and magnetism shaped modern European literature and the history of scientific thinking.