Steampunk Sleep Facts

Clockwork gears, impractical goggles, and a lot of brass pipes make this alternate-history aesthetic the perfect sedative. Steampunk somehow blends Victorian fashion with speculative tech, and yet still manages to be relaxing enough for sleep or background bedtime noise. Ideal for fans of insomnia relief who enjoy a good monocle.

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast,

Where I help you learn a little and sleep a lot.

I'm your host Benjamin Boster,

And tonight let's fall asleep learning about steampunk.

I have to be honest,

I thought steampunk was some form of a sub-genre of punk music,

So that just goes to show how ignorant I am about this topic.

So I'm excited to read more about it and share with you.

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that incorporates retro-futuristic technology and aesthetics inspired by,

But not limited to,

19th century industrial steam-powered machinery.

Interesting.

Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or as the American frontier,

Where steam power remains in mainstream use,

Or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power.

Steampunk features anachronistic technologies or retro-futuristic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them,

Distinguishing it from Neo-Victorianism,

And is likewise rooted in the era's perspective on fashion,

Culture,

Architectural style,

And art.

Such technologies may include fictional machines like those found in the works of H.

G.

Wells and Jules Verne.

Other examples of steampunk contain alternative history-style presentations of such technology as steam cannons,

Lighter-than-air airships,

Analog computers,

Or such digital mechanical computers as Charles Babbage's analytical engine.

Steampunk may also incorporate additional elements from the genres of fantasy,

Horror,

Historical fiction,

Alternate history,

Or other branches of speculative fiction,

Making it often a hybrid genre.

As a form of speculative fiction,

It explores alternative futures or pasts but can also address real-world social issues.

The first known appearance of the term steampunk was in 1987,

Though it now retroactively refers to many works of fiction created as far back as the 1950s or earlier.

A popular sub-genre is Japanese steampunk,

Consisting of steampunk-themed manga and anime.

Steampunk also refers to any of the artistic styles,

Clothing fashions,

Or subcultures that have developed from the aesthetics of steampunk fiction,

Victorian-era fiction,

Art nouveau,

Design,

And films from the mid-20th century.

Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by individual artisans into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical steampunk style,

And a number of visual and musical artists have been described as steampunk.

Steampunk is influenced by and often adopts the style of the 19th-century scientific romances of Jules Verne,

H.

G.

Wells,

Mary Shelley,

And Edward S.

Ellis's The Steam Man of the Prairies.

Several more modern works of art and fiction significant to the development of the genre were produced before the genre had a name.

Titus Alone,

1959,

By Mervyn Peake,

Is widely regarded by scholars as the first novel in the genre proper,

While others point to Michael Moorcock's 1971 novel The Warlord of the Air,

Which was heavily influenced by Peake's work.

The film Brazil,

1985,

Was an early cinematic influence,

Although it can also be considered a precursor to the steampunk offshoot Dieselpunk.

The Adventures of Luther Arkwright was an early 1970s comic version of the Moorcock-style mover between time streams.

In fine art,

Remedios Varo's paintings combine elements of Victorian dress,

Fantasy,

And techno-fantasy imagery.

In television,

One of the earliest manifestations of the steampunk ethos in the mainstream media was the CBS television series The Wild Wild West,

1965-69,

Which inspired the later film.

Although many works now considered seminal to the genre were published in the 1960s and 1970s,

The term steampunk originated largely in the 1980s as a tongue-in-cheek variant of cyberpunk.

It was coined by science fiction author K.

W.

Jeter,

Who was trying to find a general term for works by Tim Powers,

The Animus Gates,

1983,

James Blaylock,

Homunculus,

1986,

And himself,

Morlock Knight,

1979,

And Infernal Devices,

1987,

All of which took place in a 19th century,

Usually Victorian setting,

And imitated conventions of such actual Victorian speculative fiction as H.

G.

Wells' The Time Machine.

In a letter to science fiction magazine Locus,

Printed in the April 1987 issue,

Jeter wrote,

Dear Locus,

Enclosed is a copy of my 1979 novel,

Morlock Knight.

I'd appreciate your being so good as to route it to Farron Miller,

As it is a prime piece of evidence in the great debate as to who in the Powers-Blaylock-Jeter fantasy triumvirate was writing in a gonzo-historical manner first.

Though,

Of course,

I did find her review in the March Locus to be quite flattering.

Personally,

I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing,

As long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers,

Blaylock,

And myself.

Something based on the appropriate technology of the era.

Like steampunks,

Perhaps.

K.

W.

Jeter.

While Jeter's Morlock Knight and Infernal Devices,

Powers' The Anibus Gates,

And Blaylock's The Lord Kelvin's Machine were the first novels to which Jeter's neologism would be applied,

The three authors gave the term little thought at the time.

They were far from the first modern science fiction writers to speculate on the development of steam-based technology or alternative histories.

Keith Laumer's Worlds of the Imperium,

1962,

And Ronald W.

Clarke's Queen Victoria's Bomb,

1967,

Apply modern speculation to past-age technology and society.

Michael Moorcock's Warlords of the Air,

1971,

Is another early example.

Harry Harrison's novel,

A Transatlantic Tunnel,

Hurrah!

1973,

Portrays Britain in an alternative 1973 full of atomic locomotives,

Coal-powered flying boats,

Ornate submarines,

And Victorian dialogue.

The Adventure of Luther Arkright,

Mid-1970s,

Was one of the first steampunk comics.

In February 1980,

Richard A.

Lupoff and Steve Stiles published the first chapter of their ten-part comic strip,

The Adventures of Professor Thintwhistle and His Incredible Etherflyer.

In 2004,

The anonymous author described steampunk as colonizing the past so we can dream the future.

The first use of the word steampunk in a title was in Paul DiFilippo's 1995 steampunk trilogy,

Consisting of three short novels,

Victoria,

Ottentots,

And Walden Emily.

Which respectively imagine the replacement of Queen Victoria by a human Newt clone,

An invasion of Massachusetts by Lovecraftian monsters,

Drawing its title from the historic racial taxonomy,

Ottentot,

And a love affair between Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson.

The Japanese steampunk consists of steampunk manga comics and anime productions from Japan.

Steampunk elements have consistently appeared in mainstream manga since the 1940s,

Dating back to Osamu Tezuka's epic science fiction trilogy consisting of Lost World,

1948.

Metropolis,

1949,

And Next World,

1951.

The steampunk elements found in manga eventually made their way to mainstream anime productions starting in the 1970s.

Influenced by 19th century European authors such as Jules Verne,

Steampunk anime and manga arose from a Japanese fascination with an imaginary fantastical version of old industrial Europe,

Linked to a phenomenon called Akogare no Pari,

The Paris of our dreams,

Comparable to the West's fascination with an exotic East.

The most influential steampunk animator was Mayu Miyazaki,

Who was creating steampunk anime since the 1970s,

Starting with the television show Future Boy Conan,

1978.

His manga Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind,

1982,

And its 1984 anime film adaptation also contained steampunk elements.

Miyazaki's most influential steampunk production was the Studio Ghibli anime film Laputa,

Castle in the Sky,

1986,

Which became a major milestone in the genre and has been described by the Steampunk Bible as one of the first modern steampunk classics.

Archetypal steampunk elements in Laputa include airships,

Air pirates,

Steam-powered robots,

And a view of steam power as a limitless but potentially dangerous source of power.

The success of Laputa inspired Hideaki Anno and Studio Gainax to create their first hit production,

Nadia,

The Secret of Blue Water,

1990.

A steampunk anime show which loosely adapts elements from Verne's 20,

000 Leagues Under the Sea,

With Captain Nemo making an appearance.

Based on a concept by Miyazaki,

Nadia was influential on later steampunk anime,

Such as Katsuhiro Otomo's anime film Steam Boy,

2004.

Disney's animated steampunk film Atlantis,

The Lost Empire,

2001,

Was influenced by anime,

Particularly Miyazaki's works,

And possibly Nadia.

Other popular Japanese steampunk works include Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli anime film Howl's Moving Castle,

2004,

Sega's video game and anime franchise Sakura Wars,

1996,

Which is set in a steampunk version of Meiji Taisho era Japan,

And Square Enix's manga and anime franchise Full Metal Alchemist,

2001.

Steampunk used to be confused with retro-futurism.

Indeed,

Both sensibilities recall the older but still modern eras in which technological change seemed to anticipate a better world,

One remembered as relatively innocent of industrial decline.

For some scholars,

Retro-futurism is considered a strand of steampunk,

One that looks at alternatives to historical imagination,

And usually created with the same kinds of social protagonists and written for the same type of audiences.

One of steampunk's most significant contributions is the way in which it mixes digital media with traditional handmade art forms.

As scholars Rachel Bowser and Brian Croxall put it,

The tinkering and tinkerable technologies within steampunk invite us to roll up our sleeves and get to work reshaping our contemporary world.

In this respect,

Steampunk bears much in common with DIY craft and bricolage art making.

Many of the visualizations of steampunk have their origins with,

Among others,

Walt Disney's film 20,

000 Leagues Under the Sea,

1954,

Including the design of the story's submarine of the Nautilus,

Its interiors,

And the crew's underwater gear.

Aspects of steampunk design emphasize a balance between form and function.

In this,

It is like the arts and crafts movement,

But John Ruskin,

William Morris,

And the other reformers in the late 19th century projected machines and industrial production.

In contrast,

Steampunk enthusiasts present a non-Luddite critique of technology.

In Dutch amusement park de Efteling,

There is a dive coaster theme to a steampunk Victorian haunted goldmine called Baron,

1898.

Various modern utilitarian objects have been modified by enthusiasts into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical steampunk style.

Examples include computer keyboards and electric guitars.

The goal of such redesigns is to employ appropriate materials,

Such as polished brass,

Iron,

Wood,

And leather,

With design elements and craftsmanship consistent with the Victorian era,

Rejecting the aesthetic of industrial design.

In 1994,

The Paris metro station R.

Et Métiers was redesigned by Belgian artist François Skuyten in steampunk style to honor the works of Jules Verne.

The station is reminiscent of a submarine,

Cheesed in brass with giant cogs in the ceiling and portholes that look out onto fanciful scenes.

The artist group Kinetic Steamworks brought a working steam engine to the Burning Man festival in 2006 and 2007.

The group's founding member,

Sean Orlando,

Created a steampunk treehouse in association with a group of people who would later form the 5-Ton Crane Arts Group.

It has been displayed at a number of festivals.

The steampunk treehouse is now permanently installed at the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton,

Delaware.

The Never Was Hall is a three-story self-propelled mobile art vehicle built to resemble a Victorian house on wheels.

Designed by Shannon O'Hare,

It was built by volunteers in 2006 and presented at the Burning Man festival from 2006 through 2015.

When fully built,

The hall propelled itself at a top speed of 5 miles per hour and required a crew of 10 people to operate safely.

Currently,

The Never Was House makes her home at Obtainium Works,

An art car factory in Vallejo,

California,

Owned by O'Hare and home to several other self-styled contraptionists.

In May to June 2008,

Multimedia artist and sculptor Paul St.

George exhibited outdoor interactive video installations linking London and Brooklyn,

New York in a Victorian-era styled electroscope.

Utilizing this device,

New York promoter Evelyn Krita organized a transatlantic wave between steampunk enthusiasts from both cities prior to white mischiefs around the world in 80 Days steampunk themed event.

In 2009,

For Questacon,

Artist Tim Wetherill created a large wall piece that represented the concept of the clockwork universe.

This steel artwork contains moving gears,

A working clock,

And a movie of the moon's terminator in action.

The 3D moon movie was created by Anthony Williams.

From October 2009 through February 2010,

The Museum of the History of Science,

Oxford,

Hosted the first major exhibition of steampunk art objects,

Curated and developed by New York artist and designer R.

Donovan,

Who also exhibited his own electro-futuristic lighting sculptures,

And presented by Dr.

Jim Bennett,

Museum director.

From redesigned practical items to fantastical contraptions,

This exhibition showcased the work of 18 steampunk artists from around the globe.

The exhibit proved to be the most successful and highly attended in the museum's history,

And attracted more than 80,

000 visitors.

The event was detailed in the official artist journal,

The Art of Steampunk,

By curator Donovan.

In November 2010,

The Libertory Steampunk Art Gallery was opened by Damien McNamara in Oamaru,

New Zealand.

Created from papier-mâché to resemble a large cave,

And filled with industrial equipment from yesteryear,

Ray guns,

And general steampunk quirks,

Its purpose is to provide a place for steampunkers in the region to display artwork for sale all year long.

A year later,

A more prominent gallery,

Steampunk HQ,

Was opened in the former Meeks Grain elevator building across the road from the Wool Store,

And has since become a notable tourist attraction for Oamaru.

Steampunk fashion has no set guidelines,

But trends to synthesize modern styles with influences from the Victorian era.

Such influences may include bustles,

Corsets,

Gowns,

And petticoats,

Suits with waistcoats,

Coats,

Top hats,

And bowler hats,

Themselves originating in 1850 England,

Tailcoats,

And spats,

Or military-inspired garments.

Steampunk-influenced outfits are usually accented with several technological and period accessories,

Timepieces,

Parasols,

Flying or driving goggles,

And ray guns.

Modern accessories like cell phones or music players can be found in steampunk outfits after being modified to give them the appearance of Victorian-era objects.

Post-apocalyptic elements such as gas masks,

Ragged clothing,

And tribal motifs can also be included.

Aspects of steampunk fashion have been anticipated by mainstream high fashion,

The lolita and aristocrat styles,

Neo-Victorianism,

And the romantic goth subculture.

In 2005,

Kate Lambert,

Known as Kato,

Founded the first steampunk clothing company,

Steampunk Couture,

Mixing Victorian and post-apocalyptic influences.

In 2013,

IBM predicted,

Based on an analysis of more than a half million public posts on message boards,

Blogs,

Social media sites,

And news sources,

That steampunk,

A subgenre inspired by the clothing,

Technology,

And social mores of Victorian society,

Would be a major trend to bubble up and take hold of the retail industry.

Indeed,

High fashion lines such as Prada,

Dolce & Gabbana,

Versace,

Chanel,

And Christian Dior had already been introducing steampunk styles on the fashion runways.

In Episode 7 of Lifetime's Under the Gun reality series,

Contestants were challenged to create avant-garde steampunk chic looks.

America's Next Top Model tackled steampunk fashion in a 2012 episode,

Where models competed in a steampunk-themed photoshoot,

Posing in front of a steam train while holding a live owl.

In 1988,

The first version of the science fiction tabletop role-playing game,

Space,

1889,

Was published.

The game is set in an alternative history in which certain now-discredited Victorian scientific theories were probable and led to new technologies.

Contributing authors included Frank Chadwick,

Lauren Wiseman,

And Marcus Roland.

William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's novel The Difference Engine,

1990,

Is often credited with bringing about widespread awareness of steampunk.

The novel applies the principles of Gibson and Sterling's cyberpunk writings to an alternative Victorian era,

Where Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage's proposed steam-powered mechanical computer,

Which Babbage called a Difference Engine,

A later more general-purpose version known as an Analytical Engine,

Was actually built and led to the dawn of the Information Age,

More than a century ahead of schedule.

This setting was different from most steampunk settings,

In that it takes a dim and dark view of this future rather than the more prevalent utopian versions.

Nick Gavers' original anthology Extraordinary Engines,

2008,

Features newer steampunk stories by some of the genre's writers,

As well as other science fiction and fantasy writers experimenting with neo-Victorian conventions.

A retrospective reprint anthology of steampunk fiction was released,

Also in 2008,

By Tachyon Publications.

Edited by Anne and Jeff Vandermeer and appropriately entitled Steampunk,

It is a collection of stories by James Blaylock,

Whose Narbondo trilogy is typically considered steampunk.

Jay Lake,

Author of the novel Mainspring,

Sometimes labeled Clockpunk.

The aforementioned Michael Moorcock,

As well as Jess Nevins,

Known for his annotations to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,

First published in 1999.

Younger readers have also been targeted by steampunk themes,

By authors such as Philip Reeve and Scott Westerfeld.

Reeve's quartet,

Mortal Engines,

Is set far in Earth's future,

Where giant moving cities consume each other in a battle for resources.

A concept Reeve coined as Municipal Darwinism.

Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy is set during an alternate First World War,

Fought between the Klinkers,

Central powers,

Who use steam technology,

And Darwinists,

Allied powers,

Who use genetically engineered creatures instead of machines.

Mashups are also becoming increasingly popular in books aimed at younger readers,

Mixing steampunk with other genres.

Stefan Bachmann's The Peculiar Duology was labeled a steampunk fairy tale,

And imagined steampunk technology as a means to stave off an incursion of fairies in Victorian England.

Suzanne Lazier's Aether Chronicles series also mixes steampunk with fairies,

And The Unnaturalists,

By Tiffany Trent,

Combines steampunk with mythological creatures and alternate history.

Self-described author of far-fetched fiction,

Robert Rankin,

Has incorporated elements of steampunk into narrative worlds that are both Victorian and reimagined contemporary.

In 2009,

He was made a Fellow of the Victorian Steampunk Society.

Reviews

Steampunk??? Never heard of it but it does sound like a subculture of punk rock as you mentioned. 😂😂😂😂

I didn’t make it to the end fortunately! 😁😻

I’ve given it five stars although it was too interesting to get me to sleep. That you named Remedios Varo, a painter that I admire greatly, in this topic, I found surprising. And would the movies of Wes Anderson be inspired by Steampunk? Just wondering.
Anyway thanks again! You lift up my sleeptime troubles.