Chapter 11 - Telescopes

Summary

This chapter investigates the role of optical technology in the literature of the late Early Modern period. It focuses primarily on literary engagement with the telescope, invented in the early seventeenth century in the Netherlands. In exploring representations of telescopes and optical technology in Early Modern literary, this chapter explores the duality by which, on the one hand, such technologies promised the godlike ability to make the unseen seen and the unknowable known; yet, on the other, allowed for the creation of seemingly miraculous mirages, illusions, and visual tricks. Herman argues that the lesson of works such as Aphra Behn’s The Emperor of the Moon is that we must remain skeptical of the notion that any technology can relieve us of the burden of sustained critical engagement. “The telescope does not automatically reveal the truth,” Herman concludes: “The image it presents must be interpreted.”