Architectures of imagination: buildings, fictions, and worlds

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This project aims to offer an account of the roles played by fiction and imagination in the production of space during the long 18th century (1700-1835), through studies of key buildings (Strawberry Hill, Fonthill Abbey, Abbotsford); the fictions with which they were associated (Otranto, Vathek, Waverley); and the relation between these buildings, texts, and their readers/inhabitants. Drawing on these primary studies, the project will aim to develop a new account of the 18th-century imagination, the emergence of modern architectures of imagination, and the transition from neoclassicism to romanticism, while bringing these developments into dialogue with current debates about space, creativity, and the rapidly expanding field of biopolitics.