Asbestos – The Last Modernist Object

Arthur Rose

book: Asbestos – The Last Modernist Object

Open Access Published by Edinburgh University Press 2022

Asbestos – The Last Modernist Object

Arthur Rose

In the series Edinburgh Critical Studies in Modernist Culture

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474482448

Overview
Contents

About this book

Presents the first extended account of asbestos in literature, film and visual culture

Considers the literary and cultural impact of asbestos over the long 20th Century
Tracks material intersections between Modernism and the Environmental and Health Humanities
Models a new interdisciplinary approach to literature and history of modern materials

Few modern materials have been as central to histories of environmental toxicity, medical ignorance, and legal liability as asbestos. A naturally occurring mineral fibre once hailed for its ability to guard against fire, asbestos is now best known for the horrific illnesses it causes. This book offers a new take on the established history of asbestos from a literary critical perspective, showing how literature and film during and after modernism responded first to the material’s proliferation through the built environment, and then to its catastrophic effects on human health. Starting from the surprising encounters writers have had with asbestos—Franz Kafka’s part ownership of an asbestos factory, Primo Levi’s work in an asbestos mine, and James Kelman’s early life as an asbestos factory worker—the book looks to literature to rethink received truths in historical, legal and medical scholarship. In doing so, it models an interdisciplinary approach for tracking material intersections between modernism and the environmental and health humanities. Asbestos – The Last Modernist Object offers readers a compelling new method for using cultural objects when thinking about how to live with the legacies of toxic materials.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	vi
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Series Editors’ Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Preface: What’s the Use of Writing about Asbestos? Publicly Available Download PDF	xii
Introduction: Asbestos and Modernism Open Access Download PDF	1
1 A Utopian Impulse
Introduction Open Access Download PDF	37
1 A Utopian Impulse Open Access Download PDF	41
2 Clues and Mysteries Open Access Download PDF	59
Part II: Configuring Asbestos
Introduction Open Access Download PDF	83
3 Salamander Cotton Open Access Download PDF	87
4 Illness Narratives Open Access Download PDF	107
5 Compensating for Franz Kafka Open Access Download PDF	127
Part III: Transforming Asbestos
Introduction Open Access Download PDF	151
6 The Mine Open Access Download PDF	155
7 The Factory Open Access Download PDF	175
8 The Home Open Access Download PDF	202
Conclusion: The Dump Open Access Download PDF	222
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	230
Index Open Access Download PDF	250

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 256
Illustrations
- Other: 10 B/W illustrations 10 black & white illustrations
Keywords: Literary Studies

eBook

Published: July 31, 2022
ISBN: 9781474482448