The Monster in the Machine - 9780822325369

The Monster in the MachineMagic, Medicine, and the Marvelous in the Time of the Scientific Revolution\nAuthor(s): Zakiya Hanafi\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Duke University Press, United States\nImprint: Duke University Press\nISBN-13: 9780822325369, 978-0822325369\nSynopsis\nThe Monster in the Machine tracks the ways in which human beings were defined in contrast to supernatural and demonic creatures during the time of the Scientific Revolution. Zakiya Hanafi recreates scenes of Italian life and culture from the late sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries to show how monsters were conceptualized at this particular locale and historical juncture-a period when the sacred was being supplanted by a secular, decidedly nonmagical way of looking at the world. \nNoting that the word monster is derived from the Latin for omen or warning, Hanafi explores the monsters early identity as a portent or messenger from God. Although monsters have always been considered whatever we are not, the.