Renaissance Responses to Technological Change

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The book explores the impact of three transformative technologies—printing, gunpowder, and the magnetic compass—on literature and society during the long sixteenth century. It highlights the tension between humanist ideals and the emerging print culture, examines the relationship between gunpowder warfare and chivalric romance, and discusses humanists' struggles to maintain classical traditions amid significant changes in navigation. Through this analysis, it reveals how literature adapted to and redefined itself in response to these technological upheavals, reshaping perspectives on knowledge and existence.