Cervantes, Technology, and the Novel

This book examines the technological and scientific imagery in Cervantes’s novel, Don Quixote, and the ways in which the Scientific Revolution participated in the author’s examination of early modern European culture during a time of crisis and change. often function as the would-be knight’s nemesis, playing a role in foiling his quest to revive a mythical, pre-technological Golden Age. They also appear as ingenious devices that straddle the border between magic and engineering in a modern expression of human creativity and ingenuity. For Cervantes and his characters, technology is not just about machines, but about the human desire to reverse power structures and exercise agency. becomes an instrument of enlightenment achieved through imagination.

Author Biography

Cory A. Reed is an associate professor of Spanish literature and culture at the University of Texas at Austin.