Courses

This lecture course explores the relationship between literature and science in the period immediately before and during the so-called “Scientific Revolution.” It examines representation of inquiry into the unknown; the relationship between magic and science; the central role of alchemy; the emergence of the virtuosi; the formation of the Royal Society, and challenges to it. Throughout, attention will be paid to the active contribution of the “literary” to this supposedly “scientific” realm—although those terms will come under considerable pressure. Texts will range from Christopher Marlowe's play Doctor Faustus, to scientific writings by Francis Bacon and William Harvey, to less easily defined hybrids by Francis Godwin, Thomas Browne and Margaret Cavendish.