Metaphors of Immersion. Stereoscopes, 3D Vision and Photography in O.W. Holmes’ Writings and Inventions

Esteemed physician and writer, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was also a leading figure in the stereoscope craze that swept the United States in the second half of the 19th century. He not only designed and promoted a particularly successful version of the stereoscope but also provided insightful commentary on its use and impact. This device, capable of producing a vivid illusion of three-dimensionality, had a significant influence on both technological advancements and cultural practices of the time. Adopting an interdisciplinary focus that intersects media archaeology and metaphorology, this paper will explore the rhetoric and material configurations of the stereoscope as designed and promoted by Holmes and Joseph L. Bates. The main objective is to show how the discursive communication surrounding this device, along with its ergonomic design, shaped both the identity and moral connotations of the technology, as well as the immersive practices it fostered. By focusing on two key essays published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1859 and 1861, this study will reconstruct Holmes’ complex metaphorology of technical reproduction and stereoscopic illusion, highlighting the central aesthetic, social, and political themes at play.