Spectacular Science, Technology and Superstition in the Age of Shakespeare

Sophie Chiari is Professor of Early Modern English Literature at Université Clermont Auvergne, France, where she is also the Director of the ‘Maison des Sciences de l’Homme de Clermont-Ferrand’, a research institute encompassing the humanities and social sciences. A member of the IHRIM research team, she has edited or coedited various collections of essays including Performances at Court in the Age of Shakespeare (coedited with John Mucciolo, 2019) and The Experience of Disaster in Early Modern English Literature (2022). Her current research focuses on ecocritical issues in Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Her most recent works are Shakespeare’s Representation of Weather, Climate and Environment (2019) and Shakespeare and the Environment. A Dictionary (2022). Mickaël Popelard is Senior Lecturer in English studies at the University of Caen- Normandie, France. He has written several articles on Shakespeare and Bacon, as well as a monograph on Francis Bacon (Francis Bacon: l’humaniste, le magicien, l’ingénieur, 2010) and a book on the figure of the scientist in Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus (Rêves de puissance et ruine de l'âme: la figure du savant chez Shakespeare et Marlowe, 2010).

This well-conceived and richly informative collection situates Shakespearean drama at the intersection of the arts and sciences in early modern culture. The continuities of knowledge were epitomized in the imaginative possibilities of theater; and Shakespeare here is seen as both a representative and the supreme examplar of an age in which humanism, technology, craftsmanship, philosophy, alchemy, magic and poetry were inextricably interrelated. Historians of both the arts and sciences will find this a valuable and provocative volume.

• AcknowledgementsNote on ContributorsTextual NoteGeneral IntroductionI. Popular Beliefs1. The ‘Science’ of Astrology in Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Romeo and Juliet and King LearFrançois Laroque2. Staging Devils and Witches: Did Shakespeare Read Reginald Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft? Pierre KapitaniakII. Healing and Improving3. "Remedies For Life": Curing Hysterica Passio in Shakespeare’s Othello, Macbeth and The Winter’s TaleSélima Lejri4. "More, I prithee, more": Melancholy, Musical Appetite and Medical Discourse in Shakespeare’s Twelfth NightPierre Iselin5. Saving Perfection from the Alchemists: Shakespeare’s Use of AlchemyMargaret Jones-DaviesIII. Knowledge and (Re)Discoveries6. Of Mites and Motes: Shakespearean Readings of Epicurean ScienceJonathan Pollock7. Shakespeare’s Alhazen: Love’s Labour’s Lost and the History of OpticsAnne-Valérie Dulac8. Shakespeare’s Montaigne: Maps and Books in The TempestFrank Lestringant9. Unlimited Science: the Endless Transformation of Nature in Bacon and ShakespeareMickaël PopelardIV. Mechanical Tropes10. "Vat is de clock, Jack?": Shakespeare and the ‘Science’ of TimeSophie Chiari11. "Wheels have been set in motion": Geocentrism and Relativity in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are DeadLiliane CamposCodaScepticism and the Spectacular: On Shakespeare in an Age of ScienceCarla MazzioGeneral BibliographyIndex