“Irresistible-Parallel Tracks is a highly original and unique work. Kirby’s intersection of theoretical concerns with a rich exploration of the relation between cinema and the railway provides a work that is fascinating, intriguing, and intellectually entertaining.”-Tom Gunning, Northwestern University “Lynne Kirby switches elegantly between the registers of historical account, theoretical speculation, intertextual mapping, and close analysis. She enriches the genre of cultural histories of technology with detailed attention to the apparatus and textual processes elaborated over the past two decades in cinema studies. And she enriches the latter by opening up the focus from cinema to include related institutions and the dynamics of the public sphere that encompasses and is shaped by both.”-Miriam Hansen, University of Chicago

• Acknowledgments viiIntroduction 11. Inventors and Hysterics: The Train in the Prehistory and Early History of Cinema 192. Romances of the Rail in Silent Film 753. The Railroad in the City 1334. National Identity in the Train Film 189Conclusion 241Notes 253Works Cited 305Index 321

“Irresistible-Parallel Tracks is a highly original and unique work. Kirby’s intersection of theoretical concerns with a rich exploration of the relation between cinema and the railway provides a work that is fascinating, intriguing, and intellectually entertaining.”-Tom Gunning, Northwestern University “Lynne Kirby switches elegantly between the registers of historical account, theoretical speculation, intertextual mapping, and close analysis. She enriches the genre of cultural histories of technology with detailed attention to the apparatus and textual processes elaborated over the past two decades in cinema studies. And she enriches the latter by opening up the focus from cinema to include related institutions and the dynamics of the public sphere that encompasses and is shaped by both.”-Miriam Hansen, University of Chicago

• Acknowledgments viiIntroduction 11. Inventors and Hysterics: The Train in the Prehistory and Early History of Cinema 192. Romances of the Rail in Silent Film 753. The Railroad in the City 1334. National Identity in the Train Film 189Conclusion 241Notes 253Works Cited 305Index 321

“Irresistible-Parallel Tracks is a highly original and unique work. Kirby’s intersection of theoretical concerns with a rich exploration of the relation between cinema and the railway provides a work that is fascinating, intriguing, and intellectually entertaining.”-Tom Gunning, Northwestern University “Lynne Kirby switches elegantly between the registers of historical account, theoretical speculation, intertextual mapping, and close analysis. She enriches the genre of cultural histories of technology with detailed attention to the apparatus and textual processes elaborated over the past two decades in cinema studies. And she enriches the latter by opening up the focus from cinema to include related institutions and the dynamics of the public sphere that encompasses and is shaped by both.”-Miriam Hansen, University of Chicago

• Acknowledgments viiIntroduction 11. Inventors and Hysterics: The Train in the Prehistory and Early History of Cinema 192. Romances of the Rail in Silent Film 753. The Railroad in the City 1334. National Identity in the Train Film 189Conclusion 241Notes 253Works Cited 305Index 321