Gaslighting: The Material History of a Metaphor

Abstract: This essay argues that Patrick Hamilton's neo-Victorian thriller Gas Light (1938)—which has been treated as a principally psychological drama—enacted a wider critique of the commercial forces unleased by industrial capitalism. The play's Victorian setting was pivotal to this critique. Drawing on critical infrastructure studies and the energy humanities, I situate Gas Light 's performance within the transitional energy culture of 1930s Britain, and I closely incorporate the industrial and literary legacies of the Victorian coal-gas industry into my reading of the play. Reading Gas Light in the context of its debut run at a gaslit theater restores a forgotten material history that underpins the concept of psychological gaslighting.