The Curious Eye: Optics and Imaginative Literature in Seventeenth-Century England

The Curious Eye is a book about the impact of optical technologies, including the microscope, the telescope, and the camera obscura, on seventeenth century English thought. Pairing imaginative literary works with optical and philosophical texts, it explores a number of interrelated debates over the limitations of human eyesight, the effectiveness of optical technologies, and the ethics of observation, particularly in the contexts of experimental science and of England’s nascent imperialism.