ABSTRACT
For Victorian writers, the accelerating pace of technological change could offer grounds for cultural celebration or critique, for optimism or pessimism about the future. Indeed, the Victorians helped to create a culture of invention in which the march of mechanical innovation could represent a certain version of modernity itself, the excitement and the terror of hurtling into a new world at the speed of steam or electricity. Scholarly accounts of Victorian literature and technology have often viewed their relationships through the lens of later dilemmas, but Victorian writing might also offer inspiration for rethinking our own assumptions about technology and culture today.
