Automata and Mimesis on the Stage of Theatre History

Reilly, Kara. Automata and Mimesis on the Stage of Theatre History. UK/USA: Macmillan/Palgrave, 2011.[1] Also:[2]

From the publisher's website:

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.[3]

After the introduction, chapters and topics include such topics of interest as,

1. "Iconoclasm and Automata" with subsections on "Iconoclasm and moving statues"; "Court masques, cabinets of curiosity[,] and automata"
2. "Descartes's Mimetic Faculty"
3. "From Aristocrats to Autocrats: The Elite as Automata"
4. "Olympia's Legacy" with subsections of interest on "Olympia in theatrical adaptations of Hoffmann's 'The Sandman'; "Other Olympias: Coppélia and La Poupée
5. "From Automata to Automation: The Birth of the Robot in R. U. R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)

RDE, finishing, 30Dec20