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Table of contents (3 chapters)
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Reviews
“We have long known about Galileo's correspondence with his eldest daughter Virginia. In this critical edition of his correspondence with Margherita Sarrocchi, Meredith Ray illuminates his relationship with one of the most fascinating women writers of his age. Sarrocchi was a powerful cultural broker in Rome and a controversial figure. In their letters a dialogue about science and literature emerges, shortly after Galileo came to Rome to publicize and defend his discoveries with the telescope. A marvelous addition to Galileo scholarship and translations, and to the recent work that is making Sarrocchi more well-known.” (Paula Findlen, Ubaldo Pierotti Professor of Italian History and Director of the Suppes Center for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, Stanford University, USA)
“Ray’s study expertly illuminates a remarkable moment within the history of early modern women’s engagement with scientific culture, while at the same time revealing some less familiar aspects of Galileo’s cultural persona, as not merely a ground-breaking empirical scientist, but also a sought-after caster of ‘nativities,’ or horoscopes, and a respected authority on literary style. Thorough in its scholarship and scrupulously annotated, Ray’s short book makes an excellent general introduction to this transitional moment in the history of science.” (Virginia Cox, Professor of Italian, New York University, USA)
“This book allows readers a valuable new window through which to see the complexities of a woman's active role in intellectual debates in early modern Rome. Meredith Ray's extensive research adds nuance to our understanding of the cooperation between literary and scientific circles just before debates about Copernicanism erupt in Italy. Ray's presentation of Margherita Sarrocchi's letters reveals intriguing new aspects of Galileo's persona, but, most importantly, offers a rare glimpse of a dynamic female knowledge broker at work alongside him.” (Crystal Hall, Associate Professor in the Digital Humanities, Bowdoin College, USA)
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Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Margherita Sarrocchi's Letters to Galileo
Book Subtitle: Astronomy, Astrology, and Poetics in Seventeenth-Century Italy
Authors: Meredith K. Ray
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59603-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-59769-4Published: 28 May 2016
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-95577-0Published: 30 May 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-59603-1Published: 14 June 2016
Series ISSN: 2634-6435
Series E-ISSN: 2634-6443
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XII, 98
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: European Literature, Early Modern/Renaissance Literature, Gender Studies, Literary History, Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology, Poetry and Poetics