The depths of the oceans are the last example of terra incognita on earth. Adamowsky presents a study of the sea, arguing that – contrary to popular belief – post-Enlightenment discourse on the sea was still subject to mystery and wonder, and not wholly rationalized by science. She portrays the sea as a theatre of mystery, accessible only with considerable technological effort. It is this unknowable quality which locates the sea at the intersection between science and our imagination.
1 The Wondrous and Terrible Sea: Stations of an Unknown Modernity
2 The Mysterious Science of the Sea
3 Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea: Overture to a Passion
4 Mise-en-Scène: Invented Realities, or the Mediality of Wonders – The Sea in the Aquarium
5 Mise-en-Action: Asleep in the Deep
Conclusion