The Automaton in English Renaissance Literature

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Other Sciences, History
Cover of the book The Automaton in English Renaissance Literature by , Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: ISBN: 9781317040804
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: March 23, 2016
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author:
ISBN: 9781317040804
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: March 23, 2016
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

The Automaton in English Renaissance Literature features original essays exploring the automaton-from animated statue to anthropomorphized machine-in the poetry, prose, and drama of England in the 16th and 17th centuries. Addressing the history and significance of the living machine in early modern literature, the collection places literary automata of the period within their larger aesthetic, historical, philosophical, and scientific contexts. While no single theory or perspective conscribes the volume, taken as a whole the collection helps correct an assumption that frequently emerges from a post-Enlightenment perspective: that these animated beings are by definition exemplars of the new science, or that they point necessarily to man's triumphant relationship to technology. On the contrary, automata in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries seem only partly and sporadically to function as embodiments of an emerging mechanistic or materialist worldview. Renaissance automata were just as likely not to confirm for viewers a hypothesis about the man-machine. Instead, these essays show, automata were often a source of wonder, suggestive of magic, proof of the uncannily animating effect of poetry-indeed, just as likely to unsettle the divide between man and divinity as that between man and matter.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Automaton in English Renaissance Literature features original essays exploring the automaton-from animated statue to anthropomorphized machine-in the poetry, prose, and drama of England in the 16th and 17th centuries. Addressing the history and significance of the living machine in early modern literature, the collection places literary automata of the period within their larger aesthetic, historical, philosophical, and scientific contexts. While no single theory or perspective conscribes the volume, taken as a whole the collection helps correct an assumption that frequently emerges from a post-Enlightenment perspective: that these animated beings are by definition exemplars of the new science, or that they point necessarily to man's triumphant relationship to technology. On the contrary, automata in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries seem only partly and sporadically to function as embodiments of an emerging mechanistic or materialist worldview. Renaissance automata were just as likely not to confirm for viewers a hypothesis about the man-machine. Instead, these essays show, automata were often a source of wonder, suggestive of magic, proof of the uncannily animating effect of poetry-indeed, just as likely to unsettle the divide between man and divinity as that between man and matter.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book The Telegraph by
Cover of the book Sustaining Safe Sex by
Cover of the book Counselor Preparation by
Cover of the book Routledge Revivals: The Hour of Decision (1934) by
Cover of the book Researching Student Learning in Higher Education by
Cover of the book Doing Contextual Theology by
Cover of the book English Language Pedagogies for a Northeast Asian Context by
Cover of the book Time Limited Therapy in Primary Care by
Cover of the book Futile Diplomacy, Volume 2 by
Cover of the book Rural Settlement and Land Use by
Cover of the book From Geopolitics to Global Politics by
Cover of the book Computational Economics by
Cover of the book Environmental Management and Development by
Cover of the book Carlyle by
Cover of the book Choreographics by
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy