“Car, car over all, it has taken a terrible hold of us”: Experiencing automobility in interwar Britain and Germany

This article seeks to tell an emotional history of car use through the genre of life-writing, a source whose use in historical mobility research has recently been advocated by Colin Pooley. It focuses on two diarists, Hugh Miller and Victor Klemperer, to uncover what automobility looked and felt lik...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of transport history 2023-12, Vol.44 (3), p.411-435
Main Author: Harris, Jacob
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
20th century
Automobiles
Historical analysis
Interwar period
Mobility
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
cited_by
cites cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c307t-222245bbb6329438199faa7cc2fb0dcab6898fe5e2d01a9f03450bc81c11f1553
container_end_page 435
container_issue 3
container_start_page 411
container_title Journal of transport history
container_volume 44
creator Harris, Jacob
description This article seeks to tell an emotional history of car use through the genre of life-writing, a source whose use in historical mobility research has recently been advocated by Colin Pooley. It focuses on two diarists, Hugh Miller and Victor Klemperer, to uncover what automobility looked and felt like in interwar Britain and Germany, when modern mass motorisation was emerging. It highlights that experiences of automobility were heterogeneous and dependent on social position, combining the excitement and liberty popularly associated with interwar car use with the banal, frustrating and terrifying. Motorists like Miller and Klemperer felt conflicted about automobility and what it represented. Their inner ambivalence points to a unique emotional engagement with the car, which may help to explain its persistence in twentieth-century society and beyond.
doi_str_mv 10.1177/00225266231191341
format article
fullrecord <record><control><sourceid>proquest_cross</sourceid><recordid>TN_cdi_proquest_journals_2894681325</recordid><sourceformat>XML</sourceformat><sourcesystem>PC</sourcesystem><sage_id>10.1177_00225266231191341</sage_id><sourcerecordid>2894681325</sourcerecordid><originalsourceid>FETCH-LOGICAL-c307t-222245bbb6329438199faa7cc2fb0dcab6898fe5e2d01a9f03450bc81c11f1553</originalsourceid><addsrcrecordid>eNp1kM9KAzEQxoMoWKsP4C3gtVszyf6LNy21CgUvel5ms9k2dbtbk7TaWx9EX65P4i4VPIjDwMDM9_tmGEIugQ0BkuSaMc4jHsdcAEgQIRyRHiSRDISU8pj0unnQCU7JmXMLxiBMQfbIZr_7HKEdUIWWNhttKVbVgBpP5-iox1ddU6ReW2vyStN5UxW0Kena7XdfN3T8sdLW6FqZekZx7Ztlk5vK-C01dZst9t7a3lnjsW1gXdCJtkust-fkpMTK6Yuf2icv9-Pn0UMwfZo8jm6ngRIs8QFvI4zyPI8Fl6FoL5YlYqIUL3NWKMzjVKaljjQvGKAsmQgjlqsUFEAJUST65Orgu7LN21o7ny2ata3blRlPZRinIHingoNK2cY5q8tsZc0S7TYDlnXvzf68t2WGB8bhTP-6_g98A9hIe2k</addsrcrecordid><sourcetype>Aggregation Database</sourcetype><iscdi>true</iscdi><recordtype>article</recordtype><pqid>2894681325</pqid></control><display><type>article</type><title>“Car, car over all, it has taken a terrible hold of us”: Experiencing automobility in interwar Britain and Germany</title><source>Humanities Index</source><source>Sage Journals Online</source><creator>Harris, Jacob</creator><creatorcontrib>Harris, Jacob</creatorcontrib><description>This article seeks to tell an emotional history of car use through the genre of life-writing, a source whose use in historical mobility research has recently been advocated by Colin Pooley. It focuses on two diarists, Hugh Miller and Victor Klemperer, to uncover what automobility looked and felt like in interwar Britain and Germany, when modern mass motorisation was emerging. It highlights that experiences of automobility were heterogeneous and dependent on social position, combining the excitement and liberty popularly associated with interwar car use with the banal, frustrating and terrifying. Motorists like Miller and Klemperer felt conflicted about automobility and what it represented. Their inner ambivalence points to a unique emotional engagement with the car, which may help to explain its persistence in twentieth-century society and beyond.</description><identifier>ISSN: 0022-5266</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 1759-3999</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.1177/00225266231191341</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>London, England: SAGE Publications</publisher><subject>20th century ; Automobiles ; Historical analysis ; Interwar period ; Mobility</subject><ispartof>Journal of transport history, 2023-12, Vol.44 (3), p.411-435</ispartof><rights>The Author(s) 2023</rights><lds50>peer_reviewed</lds50><oa>free_for_read</oa><woscitedreferencessubscribed>false</woscitedreferencessubscribed><cites>FETCH-LOGICAL-c307t-222245bbb6329438199faa7cc2fb0dcab6898fe5e2d01a9f03450bc81c11f1553</cites><orcidid>0000-0003-4081-0289</orcidid></display><links><openurl>$$Topenurl_article</openurl><openurlfulltext>$$Topenurlfull_article</openurlfulltext><thumbnail>$$Tsyndetics_thumb_exl</thumbnail><link.rule.ids>314,780,784,27923,27924,33848,79135</link.rule.ids></links><search><creatorcontrib>Harris, Jacob</creatorcontrib><title>“Car, car over all, it has taken a terrible hold of us”: Experiencing automobility in interwar Britain and Germany</title><title>Journal of transport history</title><addtitle>The Journal of Transport History</addtitle><description>This article seeks to tell an emotional history of car use through the genre of life-writing, a source whose use in historical mobility research has recently been advocated by Colin Pooley. It focuses on two diarists, Hugh Miller and Victor Klemperer, to uncover what automobility looked and felt like in interwar Britain and Germany, when modern mass motorisation was emerging. It highlights that experiences of automobility were heterogeneous and dependent on social position, combining the excitement and liberty popularly associated with interwar car use with the banal, frustrating and terrifying. Motorists like Miller and Klemperer felt conflicted about automobility and what it represented. Their inner ambivalence points to a unique emotional engagement with the car, which may help to explain its persistence in twentieth-century society and beyond.</description><subject>20th century</subject><subject>Automobiles</subject><subject>Historical analysis</subject><subject>Interwar period</subject><subject>Mobility</subject><issn>0022-5266</issn><issn>1759-3999</issn><fulltext>true</fulltext><rsrctype>article</rsrctype><creationdate>2023</creationdate><recordtype>article</recordtype><sourceid>AFRWT</sourceid><sourceid>C18</sourceid><recordid>eNp1kM9KAzEQxoMoWKsP4C3gtVszyf6LNy21CgUvel5ms9k2dbtbk7TaWx9EX65P4i4VPIjDwMDM9_tmGEIugQ0BkuSaMc4jHsdcAEgQIRyRHiSRDISU8pj0unnQCU7JmXMLxiBMQfbIZr_7HKEdUIWWNhttKVbVgBpP5-iox1ddU6ReW2vyStN5UxW0Kena7XdfN3T8sdLW6FqZekZx7Ztlk5vK-C01dZst9t7a3lnjsW1gXdCJtkust-fkpMTK6Yuf2icv9-Pn0UMwfZo8jm6ngRIs8QFvI4zyPI8Fl6FoL5YlYqIUL3NWKMzjVKaljjQvGKAsmQgjlqsUFEAJUST65Orgu7LN21o7ny2ata3blRlPZRinIHingoNK2cY5q8tsZc0S7TYDlnXvzf68t2WGB8bhTP-6_g98A9hIe2k</recordid><startdate>20231201</startdate><enddate>20231201</enddate><creator>Harris, Jacob</creator><general>SAGE Publications</general><general>Sage Publications Ltd</general><scope>AFRWT</scope><scope>AAYXX</scope><scope>CITATION</scope><scope>4T-</scope><scope>C18</scope><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4081-0289</orcidid></search><sort><creationdate>20231201</creationdate><title>“Car, car over all, it has taken a terrible hold of us”: Experiencing automobility in interwar Britain and Germany</title><author>Harris, Jacob</author></sort><facets><frbrtype>5</frbrtype><frbrgroupid>cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c307t-222245bbb6329438199faa7cc2fb0dcab6898fe5e2d01a9f03450bc81c11f1553</frbrgroupid><rsrctype>articles</rsrctype><prefilter>articles</prefilter><language>eng</language><creationdate>2023</creationdate><topic>20th century</topic><topic>Automobiles</topic><topic>Historical analysis</topic><topic>Interwar period</topic><topic>Mobility</topic><toplevel>peer_reviewed</toplevel><toplevel>online_resources</toplevel><creatorcontrib>Harris, Jacob</creatorcontrib><collection>SAGE Journals Open Access</collection><collection>CrossRef</collection><collection>Docstoc</collection><collection>Humanities Index</collection><jtitle>Journal of transport history</jtitle></facets><delivery><delcategory>Remote Search Resource</delcategory><fulltext>fulltext</fulltext></delivery><addata><au>Harris, Jacob</au><format>journal</format><genre>article</genre><ristype>JOUR</ristype><atitle>“Car, car over all, it has taken a terrible hold of us”: Experiencing automobility in interwar Britain and Germany</atitle><jtitle>Journal of transport history</jtitle><addtitle>The Journal of Transport History</addtitle><date>2023-12-01</date><risdate>2023</risdate><volume>44</volume><issue>3</issue><spage>411</spage><epage>435</epage><pages>411-435</pages><issn>0022-5266</issn><eissn>1759-3999</eissn><abstract>This article seeks to tell an emotional history of car use through the genre of life-writing, a source whose use in historical mobility research has recently been advocated by Colin Pooley. It focuses on two diarists, Hugh Miller and Victor Klemperer, to uncover what automobility looked and felt like in interwar Britain and Germany, when modern mass motorisation was emerging. It highlights that experiences of automobility were heterogeneous and dependent on social position, combining the excitement and liberty popularly associated with interwar car use with the banal, frustrating and terrifying. Motorists like Miller and Klemperer felt conflicted about automobility and what it represented. Their inner ambivalence points to a unique emotional engagement with the car, which may help to explain its persistence in twentieth-century society and beyond.</abstract><cop>London, England</cop><pub>SAGE Publications</pub><doi>10.1177/00225266231191341</doi><tpages>25</tpages><orcidid>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4081-0289</orcidid><oa>free_for_read</oa></addata></record>
fulltext fulltext
identifier ISSN: 0022-5266
ispartof Journal of transport history, 2023-12, Vol.44 (3), p.411-435
issn 0022-5266
1759-3999
language eng
recordid cdi_proquest_journals_2894681325
source Humanities Index; Sage Journals Online
subjects 20th century
Automobiles
Historical analysis
Interwar period
Mobility
title “Car, car over all, it has taken a terrible hold of us”: Experiencing automobility in interwar Britain and Germany
url http://sfxeu10.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/loughborough?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&ctx_tim=2025-01-10T13%3A59%3A53IST&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ctx_fmt=infofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rfr_id=info:sid/primo.exlibrisgroup.com:primo3-Article-proquest_cross&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=%E2%80%9CCar,%20car%20over%20all,%20it%20has%20taken%20a%20terrible%20hold%20of%20us%E2%80%9D:%20Experiencing%20automobility%20in%20interwar%20Britain%20and%20Germany&rft.jtitle=Journal%20of%20transport%20history&rft.au=Harris,%20Jacob&rft.date=2023-12-01&rft.volume=44&rft.issue=3&rft.spage=411&rft.epage=435&rft.pages=411-435&rft.issn=0022-5266&rft.eissn=1759-3999&rft_id=info:doi/10.1177/00225266231191341&rft_dat=%3Cproquest_cross%3E2894681325%3C/proquest_cross%3E%3Cgrp_id%3Ecdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c307t-222245bbb6329438199faa7cc2fb0dcab6898fe5e2d01a9f03450bc81c11f1553%3C/grp_id%3E%3Coa%3E%3C/oa%3E%3Curl%3E%3C/url%3E&rft_id=info:oai/&rft_pqid=2894681325&rft_id=info:pmid/&rft_sage_id=10.1177_00225266231191341&rfr_iscdi=true