Page 20 - 2010 - AOUT
P. 20
eg your pardon?
Sorry – wasn’t intending to be insulting. . .
An attempt to define the indefinable by AIM member Sally Watson
I imagine 3 different reactions to the phrase Steampunk – if you are familiar with it you will grin, knowingly; if you
have heard it but got lost you will feel relief that someone might just explain; if you have never come across it you
will consider me a rude person! Stay with me……
I first came across the term about 4 years ago and thought
it was a fine description of a quirky style. So how do you
define it? Well….you don’t but here are some pointers.
Throughout history there have been thinkers, artists and
inventors who have defied the restraints of time and
reality. Bosch, Da Vinci, Escher, Dali, Heath Robinson, Jules
Verne, H P Lovecraft, H G Wells are but a few that spring
to mind and I already hear folk yelling about the ones I
missed. Some of these amazing minds used machinery in
a futuristic way as they saw it at the time of writing/
painting. Thus, a time machine invented by a Victorian
would have brass bits and cogs and dials and…..STEAM!
Still with me?
Sorry – wasn’t intending to be insulting. . .
An attempt to define the indefinable by AIM member Sally Watson
I imagine 3 different reactions to the phrase Steampunk – if you are familiar with it you will grin, knowingly; if you
have heard it but got lost you will feel relief that someone might just explain; if you have never come across it you
will consider me a rude person! Stay with me……
I first came across the term about 4 years ago and thought
it was a fine description of a quirky style. So how do you
define it? Well….you don’t but here are some pointers.
Throughout history there have been thinkers, artists and
inventors who have defied the restraints of time and
reality. Bosch, Da Vinci, Escher, Dali, Heath Robinson, Jules
Verne, H P Lovecraft, H G Wells are but a few that spring
to mind and I already hear folk yelling about the ones I
missed. Some of these amazing minds used machinery in
a futuristic way as they saw it at the time of writing/
painting. Thus, a time machine invented by a Victorian
would have brass bits and cogs and dials and…..STEAM!
Still with me?
