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Podcast: New Books in Western European Studies
Episode: Debapriya Sarkar, "Possible Knowledge: The Literary Forms of Early Modern Science" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2023)
Description: Debapriya Sarkarās new book, titledĀ Possible Knowledge: The Literary Forms of Early Modern ScienceĀ (UĀ PennsylvaniaĀ Press, 2023) is a study of how poets and philosophers took up the āthe possibleā as an alternative to the actual. By pushing back against the positivism we associate so strongly with the scientific revolution, the literary texts examined in this bookāMargaret Cavendishās poetry and prose, Edmund SpenserāsĀ Faerie Queene, Francis BaconāsĀ New Atlantis, ShakespeareāsĀ Macbeth, MiltonāsĀ Paradise Lostāinvited their readers to inhabit worlds-not-yet-known, to take up uncertainty and contingency as habits of thought.I am excited to welcome Deba...