Abstract
This thesis explores the emerging discourse of flight and the distinctive phenomenon of aerial aesthetics in non-fiction ballooning and aeroplane narratives. It analyses James Sadler's Balloon; Travels in the Air by James Glaisher, Camille Flammarion, Wilfrid de Fonvielle and Gaston Tissandier; Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Wind, Sand and Stars; and West with the Night by Beryl Markham. I propose that flight was a new aesthetic experience, a sensory phenomenon deeply affecting those who flew. I focus on the way qualities drawn from aesthetics, including sensation, danger and the sublime, interactions with nature, beauty, risk and adventure recur in these narratives.
Original language | English |
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Qualification | Doctor of Philosophy |
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Award date | 4 Nov 2020 |
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Publication status | Unpublished - 2020 |