Aerial Aesthetics: A Study of Non-Fiction Narratives of Balloonists and Aviators

Jane Thomson

doi:10.26182/07ck-1j11

Aerial Aesthetics: A Study of Non-Fiction Narratives of Balloonists and Aviators

Jane Thomson

School of Humanities

Research output: Thesis › Doctoral Thesis

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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
Qualification	Doctor of Philosophy
Awarding Institution	The University of Western Australia
Supervisors/Advisors	Dolin, Kieran, Supervisor Chinna, Stephen, Supervisor
Thesis sponsors	Australian Government Research Training Program
Award date	4 Nov 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.26182/07ck-1j11
Publication status	Unpublished - 2020

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10.26182/07ck-1j11

THESIS - DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY - THOMSON Jane - 2020
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Cite this

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AB - 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.

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Aerial Aesthetics: A Study of Non-Fiction Narratives of Balloonists and Aviators

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