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 Notes from the Metalevel by
Cover of the book Romantic 'Anglo-Italians' by
Cover of the book Digital Terrestrial Television in Europe by
Cover of the book Law and the Philosophy of Privacy by
Cover of the book Psychology of Entertainment by
Cover of the book Social Problems by
Cover of the book Fluvial Forms and Processes by
Cover of the book Strategic Management of Human Capital in Education by
Cover of the book Empathy I (Psychology Revivals) by
Cover of the book Christ and Human Rights by
Cover of the book Polycultural Synthesis in the Music of Chou Wen-chung by
Cover of the book Personnel Selection and Assessment by
Cover of the book Programme Making for Radio by
Cover of the book The Near-Death Experience by
Cover of the book Multidisciplinary Studies of the Environment and Civilization 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