Clockwork Game: The Illustrious Career of a ChessPlaying Automaton - Couverture souple

Irwin, Jane

 
9780974311029: Clockwork Game: The Illustrious Career of a ChessPlaying Automaton

Synopsis

  • In 1769, the court of Empress Maria Theresia witnessed one of that era'smost amazing feats of engineering: a machine that could play chess. Artfullyconstructed by a Hungarian nobleman named Wolfgang von Kempelen, thechess-machine played a unique game against each opponent, far surpassing theabilities of all its fellow automata. Throughout its eighty-five year career,audiences across Europe and the Americas flocked to see the mechanical marvelseemingly capable of human intelligence; Napoleon, Charles Babbage, and BenjaminFranklin were among its challengers, and Edgar Allen Poe wrote an essayattempting to explain how it worked. Despite its demise over a hundred fiftyyears ago, its mystery continues to fascinate, and its audience's reaction toits Orientalist trappings casts fresh light on our present sense of the'exotic'.
  • Written and Illustrated by Jane Irwin, author of the Vögeleingraphic novels, Clockwork Game retells the true story of the world'sfirst chess-playing automaton, blending reality and fiction into a singulargraphic novel.

Les informations fournies dans la section « Synopsis » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Présentation de l'éditeur

  • In 1769, the court of Empress Maria Theresia witnessed one of that era's most amazing feats of engineering: a machine that could play chess. Artfully constructed by a Hungarian nobleman named Wolfgang von Kempelen, the chess-machine played a unique game against each opponent, far surpassing the abilities of all its fellow automata. Throughout its eighty-five year career, audiences across Europe and the Americas flocked to see the mechanical marvel seemingly capable of human intelligence; Napoleon, Charles Babbage, and Benjamin Franklin were among its challengers, and Edgar Allen Poe wrote an essay attempting to explain how it worked. Despite its demise over a hundred fifty years ago, its mystery continues to fascinate, and its audience's reaction to its Orientalist trappings casts fresh light on our present sense of the 'exotic'.
  • Written and Illustrated by Jane Irwin, author of the Vögelein graphic novels, Clockwork Game retells the true story of the world's first chess-playing automaton, blending reality and fiction into a singular graphic novel.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.