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Fortunes of the Occhiali Politici in Early Modern Spain: Optics, Vision, Points of View

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Enrique García Santo-Tomás
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Abstract

Popularized in Spain through the work of the Italian satirist Traiano Boccalini, the motif of the occhiali politici, or political lenses, is one of the most understudied conceits in early modern Spanish satire. This essay examines four early modern Spanish texts where anteojos de larga vista (“eyeglasses” or “telescopes”) become central elements as the eye is given the ability to perceive the reality beyond deceptive appearances. But a capacity to see beyond reveals two parallel concerns: the adoption of spectacles as a mark of social distinction by a society suffering from the moral blindness these novels denounce and the increasing tensions between astronomy and religion stemming from the use of lenses as stargazing tools. Contextualizing these anxieties in the contemporary polemics regarding the divulgation of Galileo's Copernican theses, I illustrate how a simple corrective instrument triggered a fierce debate at the center of Spain's uneven modernity.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 124 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 59 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 by The Modern Language Association of America

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