The Monster in the Machine : Magic, Medicine, and the Marvelous in the Time of the Scientific Revolution

How do we know we're human if we have nothing to compare ourselves to? Cultural critic Zakiya Hanafi looks at the changing role of the monstrous in Western thinking from classical through early modern times in The Monster in the Machine. Hanafi is witty and literate in her dissection of this corpus of ideas, though there is occasionally a sense that she is presenting a cabinet of curiosities rather than a single thesis. Still, the historically minded reader will find much to explore in the thoroughly referenced text.

We humans make ourselves in the same way we make our pet monsters: in a laboratory according to a recipe of natural magic; in a grotto according to the laws of hydraulics; on the dissecting table according to the latest physiological theory. With our minds, our passions, and our bodies, say the early modern natural philosophers, we manufacture ourselves and our creations in our own image.

Focusing on the transformation of monsters from supernatural beings to objects of study more-or-less continuous with humans and animals, Hanafi points out problematic theory and practice that likely affect current thinking. Though we might not blame a woman's early death from miscarriage on a too-strong intellect, our categories and roles may still be as rigidly defined as Vico's. The best history is conscious of its projections; The Monster in the Machine is smart enough to make it so. --Rob Lightner