Lynne Pearce is Professor of Literary Theory and Women’s Writing at the University of Lancaster. She has published widely in the field of literary and cultural theory, with particular interests in: feminist reader-theory (Woman/Image/Text (1991), Reading Dialogics (1994), Feminism and the Politics of Reading (1997), The Rhetorics of Feminism (1997); romance theory (Romance Writing, 2007); and mobilities research (Devolving Identities (ed.) (2000), Postcolonial Manchester (co-authored: 2013) Drivetime (2016). She is also Director of Humanities at the Centre for Mobilities Research, Lancaster.

• Preface; 1. Theorising Automotive Consciousness; Interlude; 2. Searching; 3. Fleeing; 4. Cruising; 5. Flying; References.

This landmark book traces the emergence of automotive consciousness, combining auto-ethnographic reflection, literary analysis and cultural theory to examine the unfolding of the ‘driving-event’ in the 20th century. Drawing upon literary theory, cultural studies, human geography, psychology and sociology, it is an important addition to the inter-disciplinary field of mobility studies.