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1、WALTERKALAIDJIANIntroductionSlightlyaheadofhistime,WaltWhitmanwelcomedthenewenergiesofAmericanmodernismwithhis1876poem“ToaLocomotiveinWinter.”Init,hehailedthesteamengineas“typeofthemodern–emblemofmotionandpower–pulseofthecontinent.”1OnlysevenyearsearlieratPromontorySummit,Utah,theUnionPacifican
2、dCentralPacificRailroadswerelinkedbyagoldenspikedrivenintothefinaltieofthenation’sfirsttranscontinentalrailnetwork.Dynamic,transformative,and“unpent,”modernism’snewsocial,cultural,andtechnologicaleconomiesofscalewouldrapidlyremapspace,time,anddistanceinwaysthatwereheretoforeunimaginable.Suchaccel
3、-eratingvelocitiesofchangewouldincreasinglydefinethequickened“pulseofthecontinent.”Soon,Americanmodernismwouldexceedtheparochiallimitsofnationformationintheglobalreachofitsimaginedcommunity.Suchwasthepaceofmodernizationthatby1880thesteamlocomotivewouldbeeclipsedbyThomasEdison’sdemonstrationofth
4、eelectrictraininMenloPark,NewJersey.Twodecadeslater,HarvardprofessorHenryAdamswouldbesoawedbythegiantelectromagneticdynamosondis-playattheGreatExpositionof1900thathewould“seeonlyanabsolutefiatinelectricity”definingthemodernage.2Reflectingonthemajorscien-tificadvancesofthe1890ssuchasWilhelmConradRo
5、ntgen’sdiscoveryof¨X-rays,EdouardBranly’sandGuglielmoMarconi’sexperimentswithradiowaves,MarieCurie’sdetectionofradiuminpitchblende,Adams“wrappedhimselfinvibrationsandrayswhichwerenew,andhewouldhavehuggedMarconiandBranlyhadhemetthem,ashehuggedthedynamo”(381).ExtendingWhitman’scelebrationofthe“u
6、npent”forcesmobilizedinmod-ernism’snewertechnologies,Adams’sfascinationwiththe“supersensualworld”offindesiecle´sciencedescribedamodernworldoutlookdefinedby“Multiplicity,Diversity,Complexity,Anarchy,Chaos”(455).Asharbingersofchange,suchkeytermsincreasinglycharacterizedthenewphysicsthatwouldquickl
7、yleapaheadafter1905inEinstein’sspecialthe-oryofrelativity,MaxBorn’sandWernerHeisenberg’squantummechanics,1CambridgeCompanionsOnline©CambridgeUniversityPress,2006walterkalaidjianHeisenberg’suncertaintyprinciple,PaulA.M.Dirac’spredictiono
