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ImageandPosterinserthere

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GuidelinesforTwitteratMatterattheCrossroads:LiteratureandNaturalPhilosophyinEarlyModernEngland

Theofficialconferencehashtagofthiseventis#MatterCrossroads.Ifyoudotweet,pleaseusethishashtaginalltweets.PleasefollowthesebasicprinciplesforusingTwitterat#MatterCrossroadsConsent:Anyspeakerhastherightto‘optout’andtorequestthattheirworkandcommentsnotbetweeted.ProfessionalTone:Becivil,professional,andpoliteinyourtweets.FairQuotation:Attributealltweetswithaspeaker’sTwitterhandleorsurname.QueriesabouttwitteratMatterattheCrossroads:LiteratureandNationalPhilosophyinEarlyModernEnglandshouldbedirectedtoDrRachelE.Holmes(reh90@cam.ac.uk,@Rachel_E_Holmes).MembersoftheCrossroadsteamwillbelivetweeting,andareonTwitteras:@EMCrossroads@Rachel_E_Holmes@tim_s_buttle@LizzieSwann1@BeckyTomlin

Acknowledgements:

SupportedbytheCentreforResearchintheArts,HumanitiesandSocialSciences(CRASSH)andtheEuropeanResearchCouncil(ERC)undertheSeventhFrameworkProgramme(FP7/2007-2013)/ERC

grantagreementnoEC617849

CoverImage:JohannesVermeer‘TheAstronomer)(1668)

CentreforResearchintheArts,SocialSciencesandHumanities(CRASSH)|AlisonRichardBuilding

|7WestRoad|CambridgeCB39DT|UK|www.crassh.cam.ac.uk

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MatterattheCrossroads:LiteratureandNaturalPhilosophy

inEarlyModernEngland

Friday25November2016GrahamStoreyRoom,TrinityHall,Cambridge

ConvenorsSubhaMukherjiRachelE.HolmesTimStuart-ButtleElizabethL.SwannRebeccaTomlinColloquiumsummaryThisconferenceexplorestheintersectionsbetweennaturalphilosophyandliteratureandispartoftheresearchproject,CrossroadsofKnowledgeinEarlyModernEngland:thePlaceofLiterature,afive-yearERC-fundedprojectbasedattheFacultyofEnglishandCRASSH,UniversityofCambridge.Forfurtherinformationontheresearchprojectpleaseseehttp://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/programmes/crossroads

@EMCrossroadsemailaddresscrossroads@crassh.cam.ac.uk

CentreforResearchintheArts,SocialSciencesandHumanities(CRASSH)

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Conferenceprogramme

09.00–09.30 Registrationandcoffee09.30–09.45 WELCOME

ElizabethL.Swann09.45–10.45 ScottMandelbrote(Cambridge),Chair:TimStuart-Buttle TheArtofWritingUnintelligibly:Literatureandlateseventeenth-

centuryEnglishNaturalPhilosophy10.45–11.45 ClairePreston(QMUL),Chair:RichardOosterhoff TopographiaandtheRhetoricofCompilation11.45–12.15 COFFEEBREAK12.15–13.15 StephenClucas(Birkbeck),Chair:JenniferRampling

FulkeGrevilleandtheLimitsofNaturalPhilosophy

13.15–14.00 LUNCH

14.00–15.00 HelenSmith(York),Chair:RachelE.Holmes CirculatingMatter15.00–16.00 KatherineHunt(Oxford),Chair:RebeccaTomlin JohnDonne,ThomasAdams,andtheMatterofMetal16.00–16.30 COFFEEBREAK16.30–17.30 JonathanSawday(SaintLouis),Chair:ElizabethL.Swann

TheOtherSideofthePaper:InvestigatingEarly-ModernAbsence

17.30–18.15 ROUNDTABLEledbyRichardSerjeantson(Cambridge)18.15–19.15 DRINKSRECEPTION

LeslieStephenRoom,TrinityHall

MatterattheCrossroads:LiteratureandNaturalPhilosophyinEarlyModernEngland

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Abstracts

TheArtofWritingUnintelligibly:Literatureandlateseventeenth-centuryEnglishnaturalphilosophyScottMandelbrote(UniversityofCambridge)

Bytheearlyeighteenthcentury,severalwritershadcommentedonthelackofintelligibilityincontemporaryscientificwriting.Thistalkwillexploresomeofthosecriticismsandconsiderhowaccuratetheywereasreflectionsofcontemporaryscientificpracticeandwhatpromptedwriterstomakethem.Itwillalsoasktowhatextentintelligibilityofstyleinfactmatteredtocontemporarynaturalphilosophers.

TopographiaandtheRhetoricofCompilationClairePreston(QueenMaryUniversityofLondon)

Thecultureofcollectinggenerateslists,enumerations,descriptions,anddescribedsettingsofitsobjects.Thispaperconsidersaccounts,inseventeenth-centurypoetryandprose,ofcollectionsandtheplacesandspacesoftheirdisplay--galleries,museums,laboratories,andclosets.Theserhetoricalcompilationsfeatureseveraldistinctivefiguresbyitemisingandlocatingthecollectedobjectsintimeandspace.Topographia,ekphrasis,andmeronymyareessentialdescriptivetoolsthatdeliverabsentbooks,paintings,andcuriostothereader;buttheyalsorehearseandenacttheontologyofthecollection.Whatdosuchrhetoricalfigurestellusabouthowcollectionswereunderstood?Howdowritersmovethroughcollection-space,whatkindsofobservation(learned,empirical,aesthetic)dotheyperform,andwhataretheirpolemicalpurposesinwalking,looking,noting,describing?ThepaperwilldiscussThomasBrowne’sMusaeumClausuminparticulardetailalongwithworksbyAnonymous,JohnAubrey,RobertBoyle,MarieBurghope,JohnEvelyn,MildmayFane,RichardFanshawe,RichardLovelace,GiambattistaMarino,AndrewMarvell,WilliamSomervile,andHenryWright.

CentreforResearchintheArts,SocialSciencesandHumanities(CRASSH)

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FulkeGrevilleandtheLimitsofNaturalPhilosophyStephenClucas(Birkbeck,UniversityofLondon)

InhisTreatieofHumaneLearning(c.1618)thepoetFulkeGrevillecontemplatedthelimitsofhumanknowledgeimposedbyman’sfallennatureand‘idleCuriositie.’ThispaperwilllookatGreville’sripostetotheBaconianprojectinthelightofPyrrhonianscepticismandtheAugustinianandThomistconceptionsofcuriositas.Greville’spoemteasesoutthereligio-politicalimplicationsofcontemporarynaturalphilosophy,andseekstoplacelimitsandrestraintsonitbyappealingto‘Church-censure’,reformation,andlaw.Greville'sidealis“wisdomwithsobriety”:aphilosophywhichwouldsubmititselftothedictatesofbothChurchandSovereign.

CirculatingMatterHelenSmith(UniversityofYork)

Anobsessionwithmaterialityisscarcelyuniquetotherecent‘materialturn’.Forearlymoderns,fromnaturalphilosopherstotheologians,artisansanddomesticworkerstodramaticauthors,matteranditsmotionswasacentralconcern.Andideasaboutmattercirculatedinmaterialforms:asbooksandpapers,asobjects,andasembodiedpractices.ThispaperseekstotracethepiecemealandpartialcirculationofmattertheoryintheEnglishRenaissance,investigatinghowandwhereideasaboutmatterwerereproduced,andwrestledwith.Iattendtothecomplexitiesandchallengesoftranslationandcitation,andexploretheextenttowhich‘literary’authors(mostobviouslyVirgilandOvid)werereadfortheirphilosophicalcontent,andviceversa.Centraltothepaperaretheimaginativeconnectionsthattiedtogetherphysicalmatterandthesubstancematterofthetext;IarguethatliterarydebatesaroundCiceroniansubstancenotonlydrewonthetermsofmattertheory,butparticipatedinitselaborationandreceptioninEngland.

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JohnDonne,ThomasAdams,andthematterofmetalKatherineHunt(UniversityofOxford)

BellstollthroughDonne’spoetryandproseandthesermonsofhiscontemporaryThomasAdams.Here,bellsinchurchtowersbecomethesoundstheymake;heavymetalisrefiguredasanimble‘speedieMessenger’(Adams),andbellsasagentswho‘digout’afflictionsandassociationsintheirhearers(Donne).Thetransformationofmetalintosoundisdonebyexploitingthepropertiesofbell-metalthatallowittobebrokendown—atomised,itemised,ormelted—and,initsre-formation,re-figuredasnewbodiesandassound.Althoughbellscouldofcoursebemelteddownandre-formed,infactmanypre-Reformationchurchbellsremained,survivinginremarkablenumbersintotheseventeenthcentury.DonneandAdamsdrawonmetallurgyandthepropertiesofbronzetorevealchangingperceptionsoftheseoldobjects.Intheirwork,bellsoftheoldchurchareheardandnotseen;assound,theirmetalbecomesmutable,subjectto‘matter’smultitemporality’(JonathanGilHarris),sothattheRomanCatholichistoryoftheirbronzeisoverwritten.ByinterrogatingtheinterplayofsoundandmetalinthemetallurgicmetaphorsofAdamsandDonne,thispaperproposeswaysofthinkingaboutthepalimpsestsoftheoldreligioninthewritingofseventeenth-centuryEngland.TheOtherSideofthePaper:InvestigatingEarly-ModernAbsenceJonathanSawday(SaintLouisUniversity)

Thepaperwillbeabouthowtomakesenseofotherwiseinscrutablegaps,elisions,andabsencesinearly-modernvisualandtextualculture.

CentreforResearchintheArts,SocialSciencesandHumanities(CRASSH)

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ParticipantsConvenors

SubhaMukherji UniversityofCambridge sm10014@cam.ac.ukRachelE.Holmes UniversityofCambridge reh90@cam.ac.ukTimStuart-Buttle UniversityofCambridge ts630@cam.ac.ukElizabethL.Swann UniversityofCambridge es663@cam.ac.ukRebeccaTomlin UniversityofCambridge rct48@cam.ac.uk

SpeakersStephenClucas Birkbeck,UniversityofLondon s.clucas@bbk.ac.ukKatherineHunt UniversityofOxford katherine.hunt@queens.ox.ac.uk

ScottMandelbrote UniversityofCambridge shm24@cam.ac.ukClairePreston QueenMaryUniversityofLondon c.preston@qmul.ac.ukJonathanSawday StLouisUniversity jsawday@slu.eduHelenSmith UniversityofYork helen.smith@york.ac.uk

RoundtableChairRichardSerjeantson UniversityofCambridge rws1001@cam.ac.uk

DelegatesElizavetaAl-Faradzh UniversityofCambridge N/AKarlAxelsson UppsalaUniversity karl.axelsson@littvet.uu.seShaniBans UniversityCollegeLondon shani.bans.09@ucl.ac.ukVladimirBrljak UniversityofCambridge vb276@cam.ac.ukSarahCawthorne UniversityofYork sarah.cawthorne@york.ac.ukDavidCram UniversityofOxford david.cram@jesus.ox.ac.ukTimCribb UniversityofCambridge tjc1006@cam.ac.ukChristinaFarley UniversityofCambridge cjf53@cam.ac.ukSeanGeddes UniversityofCambridge slcg2@cam.ac.ukLydiaHamlett UniversityofCambridge lkh25@cam.ac.ukFelicityHenderson UniversityofExeter f.c.henderson@exeter.ac.ukJosephJarrett UniversityofCambridge jj340@cam.ac.ukPhilipJenkins UniversityofCambridge psj26@cam.ac.uk

MelanieKeene UniversityofCambridge mjk32@cam.ac.uk

VanessaLim QueenMaryUniversityofLondon v.y.lim@qmul.ac.uk

KathrynMurphy UniversityofOxford kathryn.murphy@oriel.ox.ac.uk

ClaireNeanon UniversityofOxford clare.neanon@pmb.ox.ac.ukLizOakley-Brown LancasterUniversity N/A

RichardOosterhoff UniversityofCambridge ro289@cam.ac.uk

EstherOsorioWhewell UniversityofCambridge eo281@cam.ac.ukTessaPeres UniversityofCambridge tp341@cam.ac.ukRuthPinder N/ACharlottePotter UniversityofCambridge charlotte.a.potter@gmail.com

JenniferRampling PrincetonUniversity N/AGeorgiaTindale UniversityofCambridge gt364@cam.ac.ukZuoweiWang UniversityofCambridge wzwrichard@yahoo.comSimoneWebb UniversityCollegeLondon simone.webb.16@ucl.ac.ukAliceWickenden UniversityofCambridge aw620@cam.ac.uk

SueWiseman Birkbeck,UniversityofLondon N/A

XiaoyingHuang UniversityofCambridge xh286@cam.ac.uk