èצӰÏñ

Organized and hosted by the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (CMEMS).

Sarah Kay (emerita, NYU) will give a talk titled "Astronomy, astrology, and the Problem of Certainty in Christine de Pizan."

An "Embodiment" Paper

In a tight-knit group of works of the early fifteenth century, Christine de Pizan refers repeatedly to her father’s expertise in astronomy, a prestigious discipline that overlapped with metaphysics in granting certain or secure knowledge. As a woman, Christine was excluded from the advanced study of this science at its most theoretical level; and yet she has also garnered her own sense of its import in its more natural and practical manifestation as astrology. Her particular understanding of the astrological debates of her time enables her to recast traditional arts texts such as The Consolation of Philosophy and Commentary on the Dream of Scipio in ways that both respect their antiquity and bring them up to date. Older concepts of fortune, fate, order, and justice are boldly infused with a contemporary discourse of astral influence, allowing Christine to endow her discussions of history with new gravitas, and so to make her own mark on history as well as re-presenting it.

Please note that this is a pre-circulated paper.ÌýThose with èצӰÏñ-affiliated emails can access the paper here via a linkÌýa week before the talk. For those outside of the èצӰÏñ community, emailÌýcmemsinfo [at] stanford.edu (cmemsinfo[at]stanford[dot]edu)Ìýto receive a copy of the paper.Ìý

Responses by and .

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The CMEMS Workshop series meets most Wednesdays during the academic year. See the CMEMS website for the list ofÌý.