William Gilbert’s revolutionary treatise on magnetism,
De magnete (On the Magnet, 1600), represen... more William Gilbert’s revolutionary treatise on magnetism, De magnete (On the Magnet, 1600), represents a paradigm shift in understanding natural philosophy, yet historians of science have overlooked its significance to the history of sexuality, which they also tend to isolate from the history of science. Gilbert defined magnetism as a form of desire within nature, a mode of “incorporeal materialism” and dispersed sexual agency that asserts a masculine “vigor” and form of nature upon the feminine “womb” of the Earth. This essay argues that such a theory of a disembodied yet masculine magnetic virtue marginalizes knowledge practices associated with the secrets of women and reproduces a set of binary oppositions between male science and female nature that becomes codified even more forcefully during the Scientific Revolution. At the same time, like the “field of desire” that Karen Barad identifies in lightning and quantum physics, magnetism in Gilbert provokes questions about the “agential capacities” that link animate and inanimate material in affective and embodied networks.
William Gilbert’s revolutionary treatise on magnetism,
De magnete (On the Magnet, 1600), represen... more William Gilbert’s revolutionary treatise on magnetism, De magnete (On the Magnet, 1600), represents a paradigm shift in understanding natural philosophy, yet historians of science have overlooked its significance to the history of sexuality, which they also tend to isolate from the history of science. Gilbert defined magnetism as a form of desire within nature, a mode of “incorporeal materialism” and dispersed sexual agency that asserts a masculine “vigor” and form of nature upon the feminine “womb” of the Earth. This essay argues that such a theory of a disembodied yet masculine magnetic virtue marginalizes knowledge practices associated with the secrets of women and reproduces a set of binary oppositions between male science and female nature that becomes codified even more forcefully during the Scientific Revolution. At the same time, like the “field of desire” that Karen Barad identifies in lightning and quantum physics, magnetism in Gilbert provokes questions about the “agential capacities” that link animate and inanimate material in affective and embodied networks.
Divination in Shakespeare's Roman plays has a larger influence than has been recognized, especial... more Divination in Shakespeare's Roman plays has a larger influence than has been recognized, especially in relation to the history of science and the efforts of classical and early modern natural philosophers to read the Book of Nature. This essay explores divination as a typological structure that layers classical and Christian forms of knowledge together.
Political Economy and thE StatES of litEraturE in Early modErn England crossing disciplinary bord... more Political Economy and thE StatES of litEraturE in Early modErn England crossing disciplinary borders between political, religious, and economic history, aaron Kitch's innovative new study demonstrates how sixteenth-century treatises and debates about trade influenced early modern English literature by shaping key formal and aesthetic concerns of authors between 1580 and 1630. the author's analysis concentrates on a commonly overlooked period of economic historythe English commercial revolution before 1620-and, utilizing an impressive combination of archival research, close reading, and attention to historical detail, traces the transformation of genre in both neglected and canonical texts. the topics here are wide-ranging but are presented with a commitment to providing a concrete understanding of the religious, political, and historic context in literary thought. Kitch begins with the emerging wool trade and explosion of economic writing, Edmund Spenser's glorification of commerce and the Protestant state as presented in The Faerie Queene, and writers such as christopher marlowe and thomas nashe who drew on the same economic principles to challenge Spenser. other topics include the reaction to the herring trade in prose satire and pamphlets, the presentation of Jewish trading nations in Shakespeare and Marlowe, and the tension between the crown and london merchants and Ben Jonson's and anthony munday's pageants and court masques.
T homas Middleton' s Triumphs of Honour and Industry (1617) features a "Pageant of Several nation... more T homas Middleton' s Triumphs of Honour and Industry (1617) features a "Pageant of Several nations" celebrating George Bowles's election as Lord Mayor of London. The printed quarto includes the following list of "nations" who show Bowles "a kind of affectionate joy. .. which by the virtue of Traffic, is likely ever to continue" on his inaugural procession to and from Whitehall:
X + 430 pages; ISBN: 9780300123586 PAUL MONOD'S STUDY deftlyintegrates tbe bistoryof Science witb... more X + 430 pages; ISBN: 9780300123586 PAUL MONOD'S STUDY deftlyintegrates tbe bistoryof Science witb tbe bistory of magic, from tbe perspective of a scbolar well grounded in tbe political and religious bistory of England. Tbe book's title alludes not just to tbe Temple on tbe Mount mentioned in tbe books of Samuel and Kings but also to tbe ecstatic vision of Ezekiel, for wbom tbe building offers a window onto divine creation. Tbe Spanisb Jesuit J. B. Villalpando publisbed an influential study of tbe Temple in 1605, wbicb saw tbe structure as a microcosm of God's mind tbrougb tbe map of Cbrist's body. Tbougb Protestants like Samuel Lee rejected Villalpando's literalism, tbe Temple itself was sometimes regarded as a model of Utopian perfection in tbe seventeentb century. Francis Bacon probably based bis college of fellows in The New Atlantis (wbicb be calls "Salomon's House") on tbe Temple, wbue Isaac Newton composed a commentary on it around tbe same time tbat an enormous model containing two tbousand rooms and some seven tbousand pillars was put on display in London. WTiat Monod ñnds particularly interesting about Newton's text is not bis descriptive, matbematical analysis of tbe structure but ratber tbe way in wbicb be invokes concepts derived from astrology and alcbemy in order to understand it. Nev\^on employs cold bard science and tbe occult simultaneously, witbout flnding tbem in conflict.
... nao «OiTi< TylJtntfrroutarnKllto nil huh njojUtts of filthynes «inunroy. as to thole bngob... more ... nao «OiTi< TylJtntfrroutarnKllto nil huh njojUtts of filthynes «inunroy. as to thole bngobiy uucts.» I) o (if m thtui any feateof< Sob be) may mooue them to tepentanrt anb ftimnttincnt oflyle. which ceoo foj\) Mts use gramit both to themano M. amen. nttntflts htteofttwttthefe. ...
The modern definitions of “political economy” and “literature” emerged around the same time in ei... more The modern definitions of “political economy” and “literature” emerged around the same time in eighteenth-century Britain, although both concepts were centuries in the making. One important work that anticipates both, for example, is Thomas More’s Utopia, which employs a series of literary techniques to stage debates about the role of wealth in the commonwealth. Some two hundred and fifty years later, the chief architect of modern political economy Adam Smith also developed his ideas about political economy in and through his study of literature and rhetoric. Beginning with a brief consideration of Smith’s own intellectual development, this chapter then exmaines the intersection between “literature” and “political economy” from Utopia to Mandeville’s Fable of the Bees in relation to three overlapping rubrics: the nation, language, and the body.
Divination shapes the central political concerns of Julius Caesar in ways that scholars have not ... more Divination shapes the central political concerns of Julius Caesar in ways that scholars have not appreciated while drawing on some of the epistemological dissonance of early modern natural philosophy. Divination also contributes to a typological structure in which the fall of Julius Caesar gives rise to the Roman Empire under Octavius “Augustus” Caesar, whose peaceful rule in turn establishes the conditions in which Christianity emerges. In subjecting signs of divination to theatrical representation—to embodied movement, dialogue, and musical performance—Shakespeare transforms the cognitive dissonance of early modern natural philosophy, especially in efforts to discern the Book of Nature, into aesthetic signs that can be received and interpreted by playgoers. Shakespeare’s tragedy attempts to realize the inexpressible through performance while depending on an ambiguous system of signs in which human action and thought remain both unfathomable and unknown.
Despite the execution of Mary Stuart in 1 587 and the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 by an ... more Despite the execution of Mary Stuart in 1 587 and the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 by an outnumbered English fleet, England remained gripped by religious conflict and the fear of foreign invasion throughout the 1590s. The deaths of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester in 1588 and Sir Francis Walsingham in 1590 not only enshrined the failure of the Dutch campaign against the Spanish, which had also cost the life of Dudley's nephew Sir Philip Sidney, but also suggested limits of Protestant resistance to Hapsburg domination in Europe (Guy 437; Wilson 304- 1 0). These events influenced the popularity of specific literary genres during the last decade of Elizabeth's reign. At court, the allegorical plays and masques of Sidney and Lyly, with their political allegory directed toward the Queen as spectator, gave way to the less overtly political comedies of London's professional playing companies. Even though the first three books of Spenser's Faerie Queene were publishe...
Page 1. ■. LT» V-rJt-X AARON i. £ ËËË1 Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. Page 5. POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE... more Page 1. ■. LT» V-rJt-X AARON i. £ ËËË1 Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. Page 5. POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE STATES OF LITERATURE IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND Crossing disciplinary borders between political, religious ...
... hardly is dissembled' (original italics, Donno, ed. 53 [1:184]). Like an index to a book... more ... hardly is dissembled' (original italics, Donno, ed. 53 [1:184]). Like an index to a book, "affection by the count'nance is descried" in Leander and Hero (Donno, ed. 51 [1:132]). Such love breeds a new kind of enthusiastic religious ...
William Gilbert’s revolutionary treatise on magnetism,
De magnete (On the Magnet, 1600), represen... more William Gilbert’s revolutionary treatise on magnetism, De magnete (On the Magnet, 1600), represents a paradigm shift in understanding natural philosophy, yet historians of science have overlooked its significance to the history of sexuality, which they also tend to isolate from the history of science. Gilbert defined magnetism as a form of desire within nature, a mode of “incorporeal materialism” and dispersed sexual agency that asserts a masculine “vigor” and form of nature upon the feminine “womb” of the Earth. This essay argues that such a theory of a disembodied yet masculine magnetic virtue marginalizes knowledge practices associated with the secrets of women and reproduces a set of binary oppositions between male science and female nature that becomes codified even more forcefully during the Scientific Revolution. At the same time, like the “field of desire” that Karen Barad identifies in lightning and quantum physics, magnetism in Gilbert provokes questions about the “agential capacities” that link animate and inanimate material in affective and embodied networks.
William Gilbert’s revolutionary treatise on magnetism,
De magnete (On the Magnet, 1600), represen... more William Gilbert’s revolutionary treatise on magnetism, De magnete (On the Magnet, 1600), represents a paradigm shift in understanding natural philosophy, yet historians of science have overlooked its significance to the history of sexuality, which they also tend to isolate from the history of science. Gilbert defined magnetism as a form of desire within nature, a mode of “incorporeal materialism” and dispersed sexual agency that asserts a masculine “vigor” and form of nature upon the feminine “womb” of the Earth. This essay argues that such a theory of a disembodied yet masculine magnetic virtue marginalizes knowledge practices associated with the secrets of women and reproduces a set of binary oppositions between male science and female nature that becomes codified even more forcefully during the Scientific Revolution. At the same time, like the “field of desire” that Karen Barad identifies in lightning and quantum physics, magnetism in Gilbert provokes questions about the “agential capacities” that link animate and inanimate material in affective and embodied networks.
Divination in Shakespeare's Roman plays has a larger influence than has been recognized, especial... more Divination in Shakespeare's Roman plays has a larger influence than has been recognized, especially in relation to the history of science and the efforts of classical and early modern natural philosophers to read the Book of Nature. This essay explores divination as a typological structure that layers classical and Christian forms of knowledge together.
Political Economy and thE StatES of litEraturE in Early modErn England crossing disciplinary bord... more Political Economy and thE StatES of litEraturE in Early modErn England crossing disciplinary borders between political, religious, and economic history, aaron Kitch's innovative new study demonstrates how sixteenth-century treatises and debates about trade influenced early modern English literature by shaping key formal and aesthetic concerns of authors between 1580 and 1630. the author's analysis concentrates on a commonly overlooked period of economic historythe English commercial revolution before 1620-and, utilizing an impressive combination of archival research, close reading, and attention to historical detail, traces the transformation of genre in both neglected and canonical texts. the topics here are wide-ranging but are presented with a commitment to providing a concrete understanding of the religious, political, and historic context in literary thought. Kitch begins with the emerging wool trade and explosion of economic writing, Edmund Spenser's glorification of commerce and the Protestant state as presented in The Faerie Queene, and writers such as christopher marlowe and thomas nashe who drew on the same economic principles to challenge Spenser. other topics include the reaction to the herring trade in prose satire and pamphlets, the presentation of Jewish trading nations in Shakespeare and Marlowe, and the tension between the crown and london merchants and Ben Jonson's and anthony munday's pageants and court masques.
T homas Middleton' s Triumphs of Honour and Industry (1617) features a "Pageant of Several nation... more T homas Middleton' s Triumphs of Honour and Industry (1617) features a "Pageant of Several nations" celebrating George Bowles's election as Lord Mayor of London. The printed quarto includes the following list of "nations" who show Bowles "a kind of affectionate joy. .. which by the virtue of Traffic, is likely ever to continue" on his inaugural procession to and from Whitehall:
X + 430 pages; ISBN: 9780300123586 PAUL MONOD'S STUDY deftlyintegrates tbe bistoryof Science witb... more X + 430 pages; ISBN: 9780300123586 PAUL MONOD'S STUDY deftlyintegrates tbe bistoryof Science witb tbe bistory of magic, from tbe perspective of a scbolar well grounded in tbe political and religious bistory of England. Tbe book's title alludes not just to tbe Temple on tbe Mount mentioned in tbe books of Samuel and Kings but also to tbe ecstatic vision of Ezekiel, for wbom tbe building offers a window onto divine creation. Tbe Spanisb Jesuit J. B. Villalpando publisbed an influential study of tbe Temple in 1605, wbicb saw tbe structure as a microcosm of God's mind tbrougb tbe map of Cbrist's body. Tbougb Protestants like Samuel Lee rejected Villalpando's literalism, tbe Temple itself was sometimes regarded as a model of Utopian perfection in tbe seventeentb century. Francis Bacon probably based bis college of fellows in The New Atlantis (wbicb be calls "Salomon's House") on tbe Temple, wbue Isaac Newton composed a commentary on it around tbe same time tbat an enormous model containing two tbousand rooms and some seven tbousand pillars was put on display in London. WTiat Monod ñnds particularly interesting about Newton's text is not bis descriptive, matbematical analysis of tbe structure but ratber tbe way in wbicb be invokes concepts derived from astrology and alcbemy in order to understand it. Nev\^on employs cold bard science and tbe occult simultaneously, witbout flnding tbem in conflict.
... nao «OiTi< TylJtntfrroutarnKllto nil huh njojUtts of filthynes «inunroy. as to thole bngob... more ... nao «OiTi< TylJtntfrroutarnKllto nil huh njojUtts of filthynes «inunroy. as to thole bngobiy uucts.» I) o (if m thtui any feateof< Sob be) may mooue them to tepentanrt anb ftimnttincnt oflyle. which ceoo foj\) Mts use gramit both to themano M. amen. nttntflts htteofttwttthefe. ...
The modern definitions of “political economy” and “literature” emerged around the same time in ei... more The modern definitions of “political economy” and “literature” emerged around the same time in eighteenth-century Britain, although both concepts were centuries in the making. One important work that anticipates both, for example, is Thomas More’s Utopia, which employs a series of literary techniques to stage debates about the role of wealth in the commonwealth. Some two hundred and fifty years later, the chief architect of modern political economy Adam Smith also developed his ideas about political economy in and through his study of literature and rhetoric. Beginning with a brief consideration of Smith’s own intellectual development, this chapter then exmaines the intersection between “literature” and “political economy” from Utopia to Mandeville’s Fable of the Bees in relation to three overlapping rubrics: the nation, language, and the body.
Divination shapes the central political concerns of Julius Caesar in ways that scholars have not ... more Divination shapes the central political concerns of Julius Caesar in ways that scholars have not appreciated while drawing on some of the epistemological dissonance of early modern natural philosophy. Divination also contributes to a typological structure in which the fall of Julius Caesar gives rise to the Roman Empire under Octavius “Augustus” Caesar, whose peaceful rule in turn establishes the conditions in which Christianity emerges. In subjecting signs of divination to theatrical representation—to embodied movement, dialogue, and musical performance—Shakespeare transforms the cognitive dissonance of early modern natural philosophy, especially in efforts to discern the Book of Nature, into aesthetic signs that can be received and interpreted by playgoers. Shakespeare’s tragedy attempts to realize the inexpressible through performance while depending on an ambiguous system of signs in which human action and thought remain both unfathomable and unknown.
Despite the execution of Mary Stuart in 1 587 and the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 by an ... more Despite the execution of Mary Stuart in 1 587 and the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 by an outnumbered English fleet, England remained gripped by religious conflict and the fear of foreign invasion throughout the 1590s. The deaths of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester in 1588 and Sir Francis Walsingham in 1590 not only enshrined the failure of the Dutch campaign against the Spanish, which had also cost the life of Dudley's nephew Sir Philip Sidney, but also suggested limits of Protestant resistance to Hapsburg domination in Europe (Guy 437; Wilson 304- 1 0). These events influenced the popularity of specific literary genres during the last decade of Elizabeth's reign. At court, the allegorical plays and masques of Sidney and Lyly, with their political allegory directed toward the Queen as spectator, gave way to the less overtly political comedies of London's professional playing companies. Even though the first three books of Spenser's Faerie Queene were publishe...
Page 1. ■. LT» V-rJt-X AARON i. £ ËËË1 Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. Page 5. POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE... more Page 1. ■. LT» V-rJt-X AARON i. £ ËËË1 Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. Page 5. POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE STATES OF LITERATURE IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND Crossing disciplinary borders between political, religious ...
... hardly is dissembled' (original italics, Donno, ed. 53 [1:184]). Like an index to a book... more ... hardly is dissembled' (original italics, Donno, ed. 53 [1:184]). Like an index to a book, "affection by the count'nance is descried" in Leander and Hero (Donno, ed. 51 [1:132]). Such love breeds a new kind of enthusiastic religious ...
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Papers by Aaron Kitch
De magnete (On the Magnet, 1600), represents a paradigm shift in understanding
natural philosophy, yet historians of science have overlooked
its significance to the history of sexuality, which they also tend
to isolate from the history of science. Gilbert defined magnetism as a
form of desire within nature, a mode of “incorporeal materialism” and
dispersed sexual agency that asserts a masculine “vigor” and form of
nature upon the feminine “womb” of the Earth. This essay argues that
such a theory of a disembodied yet masculine magnetic virtue marginalizes
knowledge practices associated with the secrets of women
and reproduces a set of binary oppositions between male science and
female nature that becomes codified even more forcefully during the
Scientific Revolution. At the same time, like the “field of desire” that
Karen Barad identifies in lightning and quantum physics, magnetism
in Gilbert provokes questions about the “agential capacities” that link
animate and inanimate material in affective and embodied networks.
De magnete (On the Magnet, 1600), represents a paradigm shift in understanding
natural philosophy, yet historians of science have overlooked
its significance to the history of sexuality, which they also tend
to isolate from the history of science. Gilbert defined magnetism as a
form of desire within nature, a mode of “incorporeal materialism” and
dispersed sexual agency that asserts a masculine “vigor” and form of
nature upon the feminine “womb” of the Earth. This essay argues that
such a theory of a disembodied yet masculine magnetic virtue marginalizes
knowledge practices associated with the secrets of women
and reproduces a set of binary oppositions between male science and
female nature that becomes codified even more forcefully during the
Scientific Revolution. At the same time, like the “field of desire” that
Karen Barad identifies in lightning and quantum physics, magnetism
in Gilbert provokes questions about the “agential capacities” that link
animate and inanimate material in affective and embodied networks.
De magnete (On the Magnet, 1600), represents a paradigm shift in understanding
natural philosophy, yet historians of science have overlooked
its significance to the history of sexuality, which they also tend
to isolate from the history of science. Gilbert defined magnetism as a
form of desire within nature, a mode of “incorporeal materialism” and
dispersed sexual agency that asserts a masculine “vigor” and form of
nature upon the feminine “womb” of the Earth. This essay argues that
such a theory of a disembodied yet masculine magnetic virtue marginalizes
knowledge practices associated with the secrets of women
and reproduces a set of binary oppositions between male science and
female nature that becomes codified even more forcefully during the
Scientific Revolution. At the same time, like the “field of desire” that
Karen Barad identifies in lightning and quantum physics, magnetism
in Gilbert provokes questions about the “agential capacities” that link
animate and inanimate material in affective and embodied networks.
De magnete (On the Magnet, 1600), represents a paradigm shift in understanding
natural philosophy, yet historians of science have overlooked
its significance to the history of sexuality, which they also tend
to isolate from the history of science. Gilbert defined magnetism as a
form of desire within nature, a mode of “incorporeal materialism” and
dispersed sexual agency that asserts a masculine “vigor” and form of
nature upon the feminine “womb” of the Earth. This essay argues that
such a theory of a disembodied yet masculine magnetic virtue marginalizes
knowledge practices associated with the secrets of women
and reproduces a set of binary oppositions between male science and
female nature that becomes codified even more forcefully during the
Scientific Revolution. At the same time, like the “field of desire” that
Karen Barad identifies in lightning and quantum physics, magnetism
in Gilbert provokes questions about the “agential capacities” that link
animate and inanimate material in affective and embodied networks.