Victoria (2021) Johannes Kepler's 'Somnium' and the Witches' Night Flight. Interfaces: A Journal of Medieval European Literatures, 8. pp. 74-97. ISSN 2421-5503
Anteprima |
Testo
unimi_15809.pdf - Versione pubblicata Download (282kB) | Anteprima |
Abstract
[EN] This article explores the uses of the witches' night-flight in Johannes Kelper’s Somnium (1634). It situates Kepler's engagement with the motif in the broader context of debates on the reality of the night-flight among early modern witch theorists, including Kepler's contemporary and friend, Georg Gödelmann. It proposes that Kepler understood the night-flight as a phenomenon with a disputed reality status and, as such, an appropriate imaginative space through which to pursue the thought experiment of lunar travel. Consequently, it suggests that we ought not to dismiss Kepler's engagements with the figure of the witch as a vestigial medieval superstition (itself a problematic contention), but rather an interest characteristic of his age, and that we might find in the speculations of witch-theory the very beginnings of science fiction.
| Tipologia del documento: | Articolo in rivista |
|---|---|
| Parole chiave: | Johannes Kepler; Copernican astronomy; night-flight; lunar travel; science fiction |
| Soggetto: | D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D111 Medieval History P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0441 Literary History |
| Depositato il: | 21 Ago 2026 21:41 |
| Ultima modifica: | 22 Ago 2026 14:26 |
| URI: | https://www.rmoa.unina.it/id/eprint/8019 |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year
Actions (login required)
 |
Modifica documento |
