The automaton, known today as the robot, can be seen as a metaphor for the historical period in which it is explored. Chapters include examinations of Iconoclasm's fear that art might surpass nature, the Cartesian mind/body divide, automata as objects of courtly desire, the uncanny Olympia, and the revolutionary Robots in post-WWI drama.

Autorentext
KARA REILLY is a Lecturer at the University of Birmingham, UK. She is a theatre historian, theorist and dramaturg. Her work has appeared in New Theatre Quarterly, American Drama, Theatre Journal and Contemporary Theatre Review. This is her first book.

Inhalt
List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction Reformation Iconoclasm Descartes' Mimetic Faculty From Aristocrats to Autocrats: The Elite as Automata Olympia's Legacy Death of the Automaton, Birth of the Robot Draft Epilogue Bibliography Index