The Making of Copernicus: Early Modern Transformations of a Scientist and His Science

The contributions to Making of Copernicus examine exemplarily how some of the Copernicus myths came about and if they could hold their ground or have vanished again. Are there links between a factual or postulated transformation of world images and the application of certain scientific metaphors, especially the metaphor of a revolution? Were there interactions and amalgamations of the literary and scientific enthronement, or outlawry of Copernicus and if so, how did they take place? On the other hand, are there repercussions of the scientific-historical reconstructions and hagiographies on the literary image of Copernicus as sketched by novelists even in the 20th century? The history of the reception of Copernicus shall not be dominantly dealt with from the point of view of a factual affirmation and rejection of the astronomer and his doctrine but rather as accomplishments of transformation respectively. Thus, the essays in this volume investigate transformations: methodological, institutional, textual, and visual transformations of the Copernican doctrine and the topical, rhetorical and literary transformations of the historical person of Copernicus respectively.

Thomas Rahn gained his doctorate at the Philipps-Universität Marburg (2001) and teaches German Literature at the Freie Universität Berlin. He has published books and articles on Early Modern theatre and court culture, rhetoric and the typographic dimensions of texts.

Wolfgang Neuber has been Full Professor of German Philology/Early Modern German and Neo-Latin Literature in the European Context and Head of the ‘Forschungsstelle für Mittlere Deutsche Literatur’ at Freie Universität Berlin since 2000; he is currently on a five-year leave of absence to teach literature at New York University in Abu Dhabi. He has published extensively on early modern travel accounts (including "Fremde Welt im europäischen Horizont", 1991) and is currently preparing a book on early modern European family books.

Claus Zittel teaches German literature and philosophy at the Universities of Stuttgart, Frankfurt am Main, and Olsztyn (Poland), and is deputy director of the Stuttgart Research Centre for Text Studies. He has published monographs, editions and many articles on Early Modern Philosophy and Literature and Philosophy, including The Artist as Reader (Brill 2013).