Vibration

This book rethinks vibration as a medium rather than merely a physical phenomenon. Combining media archaeology, disability studies, literary analysis, and the history of medicine and technology, it traces how vibration has shaped bodies, media, and sensory experience from the nineteenth century to today.

Vibration connects our bodies to the technologies and environments around us: the phone buzzing in a pocket, the rumble of a train, the pulse of a haptic device. This book argues that vibration is not simply a by-product of technology but a means of communication in its own right.

Drawing on media archaeology, disability studies, literary analysis, philosophy, and the history of medicine and technology, the authors trace how vibration has been imagined, felt, and put to use from the nineteenth century to the present day. Their examples run from sensory overload in Huysmans’s Against Nature and the physical resonance in Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Charcot’s pioneering neurological studies and contemporary vibrating wearables, haptic devices, and vibration plates. Throughout, the book recovers forgotten technologies, overlooked users, and neglected sensory practices.

Written for researchers and students in media, cultural, literary and disability studies, science and technology studies, and the history of medicine, it will also interest anyone curious about embodiment, sensory cultures, and the cultural history of technology.