Civilized into sleeplessness: a transatlantic study of insomnia at the fin de siècle

Abstract

ABSTRACT Determining who was an insomniac at the fin de siècle was more complex than detailing how many hours of sleep were lost. The label was a conduit through which gender, racial, and class-based biases were ratified and produced. This article proposes there are three primary discursive elements to insomnia: the medical, the mass-cultural, and the emblematic. The first two worked together to define the label of “insomniac,” an archetype informed by and reinforcing socio-cultural biases and anxieties. The final discourse functioned as an allegorical index of civilization, contributing to the construction of a popular and “exceptionalist” American national identity.