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Shakespeare and Saturn: Accounting for Appearances PDF

267 Pages·2015·2.037 MB·English
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Usher_cpi_cb_AUS dd.qxd 3/6/2015 1:56 PM Page 1 A M E R I C A N U N I V E R S I T Y S T U D I E S In the mid-sixteenth century, Copernicus asserted that the Earth was not the U s center of the universe as was generally believed, but that the sun lay there instead. h e The relegation of the Earth to the rank of an orbiting planet meant that r humankind lost its privileged position as well, thus prompting re-evaluation of all facets of human existence. This transformation in worldview gathered S momentum throughout Shakespeare’s writing career, yet his canon appears to h lack reference to it. Peter D. Usher has studied Hamletand other Shakespearean a k plays and has uncovered a consistent pattern of reference to phenomena that e prove the correctness of the new worldview, including reference to the infinite s p universe of stars. These data could not have been known without telescopic aid, e which indicates that systematic telescopic study of celestial objects began a r before the generally accepted date of 1610. In Shakespeare and Saturn, Usher sum- e marizes earlier results and shows that in All’s Well That Ends Well, Shakespeare a takes account of the last supernova eruption of 1604 known to have occurred n d in the Milky Way galaxy. He shows further that in Much Ado About Nothingand The Comedy of Errors Shakespeare makes observations concerning Saturn’s S a spectacular ring system that are remarkably accurate. t u r n Peter D. Usheris Emeritus Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at The Pennsylvania State University. He received his M.Sc. from the University of the Free State in South Africa and his Ph.D. from Harvard. He is the author of Hamlet’s Universeand Shakespeare and the Dawn of Modern Scienceand has pub- lished more than one hundred papers in peer-reviewed journals. His research accomplishments include the analytic derivation of the equations of invariant imbedding, the discovery of the renormalized Poincaré-Lighthill perturbation expansion, a generalization of the method of shoot and fit, and a survey of medium-bright quasars. His papers on Shakespeare and science have appeared in The Elizabethan Review, The Oxfordian, and The Shakespeare Newsletter. x ix (cid:127) Shakespeare 4 1 and Saturn P E T ER Accounting for Appearances L A A M E R I C A N N G U N I V E R S I T Y www.peterlang.com S T U D I E S PETER D. USHER Usher_cpi_cb_AUS dd.qxd 3/6/2015 1:56 PM Page 1 A M E R I C A N U N I V E R S I T Y S T U D I E S In the mid-sixteenth century, Copernicus asserted that the Earth was not the center of the universe as was generally believed, but that the sun lay there instead. The relegation of the Earth to the rank of an orbiting planet meant that humankind lost its privileged position as well, thus prompting re-evaluation of all facets of human existence. This transformation in worldview gathered momentum throughout Shakespeare’s writing career, yet his canon appears to lack reference to it. Peter D. Usher has studied Hamletand other Shakespearean plays and has uncovered a consistent pattern of reference to phenomena that prove the correctness of the new worldview, including reference to the infinite universe of stars. These data could not have been known without telescopic aid, which indicates that systematic telescopic study of celestial objects began before the generally accepted date of 1610. In Shakespeare and Saturn, Usher sum- marizes earlier results and shows that in All’s Well That Ends Well, Shakespeare takes account of the last supernova eruption of 1604 known to have occurred in the Milky Way galaxy. He shows further that in Much Ado About Nothingand The Comedy of Errors Shakespeare makes observations concerning Saturn’s spectacular ring system that are remarkably accurate. Peter D. Usheris Emeritus Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at The Pennsylvania State University. He received his M.Sc. from the University of the Free State in South Africa and his Ph.D. from Harvard. He is the author of Hamlet’s Universeand Shakespeare and the Dawn of Modern Scienceand has pub- lished more than one hundred papers in peer-reviewed journals. His research accomplishments include the analytic derivation of the equations of invariant imbedding, the discovery of the renormalized Poincaré-Lighthill perturbation expansion, a generalization of the method of shoot and fit, and a survey of medium-bright quasars. His papers on Shakespeare and science have appeared in The Elizabethan Review, The Oxfordian, and The Shakespeare Newsletter. x ix (cid:127) Shakespeare 4 1 and Saturn P E T ER Accounting for Appearances L A A M E R I C A N N G U N I V E R S I T Y S T U D I E S PETER D. USHER Shakespeare and Saturn SERIES XIX GENERAL LITERATURE VOL. 41 This book is a volume in a Peter Lang monograph series. Every volume is peer reviewed and meets the highest quality standards for content and production. PETER LANG New York  Bern  Frankfurt  Berlin Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw PETER D. USHER Shakespeare and Saturn ACCOUNTING FOR APPEARANCES PETER LANG New York  Bern  Frankfurt  Berlin Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Usher, Peter D. Shakespeare and Saturn: accounting for appearances / Peter D. Usher. pages cm. — (American University studies XIX: General literature; v. 41) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1.Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Criticism and interpretation. 2.Astronomy in literature. 3. Literature and science. I. Title. PR3047.U84 822.3’3—dc23 2014033101 ISBN 978-1-4331-2860-8 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4539-1451-9 (e-book) ISSN 0743-6645 Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/. Cover image: Saturn imaged on March 28, 2005, by David Tyler, Buckinghamshire, England. All rights reserved. © 2015 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006 www.peterlang.com All rights reserved. Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm, xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited. For my son Robert Wetherbee Usher Some of them marveled at the magic mirror That had been carried up to the main tower: How could such things be seen in it? said they. Another answered, that it might well be That there was some quite natural explanation, That the whole thing was done by combinations Of angles, cunningly contrived reflections; And said that there was one like it in Rome. Vitello, Alhazen, and Aristotle Were mentioned, for they wrote in their own day Of curious mirrors and of optical Perspective glasses, as all know who’ve heard Their books read out. Geoffrey Chaucer The Squire’s Tale c.1386

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