Energy in Hardy and Conrad

The age of Thomas Hardy and Joseph Conrad saw the discovery of many new forms of energy : steam, gas and electricity contributed to reshaping the environment as well as the social and economic organization of the world. How did these new energies compete or interfere with older ones, like those of the human body and of nature in general ? And how did the two writers accommodate, or render in prose or verse the power of these new energies, the fascination/repulsion for their chemical/physical impulses ? Aside from pure epistemology, can the notion of energy help us read the two authors differently ?

This volume contains papers given in the panel "Energy in Conrad and Hardy" during the 15th Esse International Conference held online (Lyon, France) on 01-02 September, 2021. Two more articles are also included in the issue.

Publication was made possible thanks to the support of Ehic (Université de Limoges).