"Kaleidoscopic Vision and Literary Invention in an "Age of Things
"David Brewster, Don Juan and "A Lady's Kaleidoscope
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9330709 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Helen Groth (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 74 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 217-237 |
| Publication date | 2007-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | ELH (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-8304 • E-ISSN: 1080-6547 |
| Publisher | Johns Hopkins University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/elh.2007.0005 |
| OpenAlex | W2015013879 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 8 |
David Brewster's Kaleidoscope caused a sensation in early nineteenth-century London and introduced a new and potent visual metaphor which still animates modern parlance. Yet the kaleidoscope's considerable cultural impact has received scant critical attention, partly because it lacks the uncanny proto-cinematic verisimilitude of the diorama, the panorama, or the stereoscope. This article reconstructs this overlooked reception history, moving back in time from recent theoretical engagements with the kaleidoscope to David Brewster's own account of his invention and its contemporary reception by both consumers and writers. This history reveals a sustained interrogation of the concept and experience of a unique form of visual transformation that never allows the eye to rest
Art · Art history · Brewster · Kaleidoscope · Literature · Metaphor · Optics · Theology · Uncanny · Visual arts · Historical and Literary Studies · Linguistic and Cultural Studies · Philosophy · Socioeconomics of Resources and Conservation
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2023 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |