This seminar wishes to explore Early Modern ideas about material agency and the interaction of human and nonhuman matter aiming to bring such historical perspectives into a critical dialogue with contemporary theory. Such a dialogue not only promises to bring to prominence forms of Early Modern material agency which may have been marginalised in critical discourse, but also

offers a possible corrective to the historical bias implied by a progressivist narrative of recent materialisms as post-Cartesian. Reviewing concepts and cultural as well as literary representations of Early Modern material agency will serve to highlight continuities as well as differences and allow us to explore history as a playground and experimental laboratory for ideas which we can see taking centre stage today. This seminar will welcome abstracts on any topic exploring Early Modern material agency and its representation in literature and culture. Please send your proposals of no more than 500 words for 20 min papers to both convenors by email ([email protected]; [email protected]).