Abstract
Early modern humanism is less monolithic and even less humanist than posthumanist theory has often assumed. This chapter embarks on a sweeping journey through early modern allusions to the Actaeon myth to explore the conflicts and uncertainties that define humanism at its very roots and demonstrate the value of posthumanist approaches in analyzing premodern texts. As the prototype for the questing, vulnerable, unstable human, Actaeon’s encounters in literature and art with the goddess Diana, with his own hounds, and with the water that transforms him, constitute a map of early modern posthumanist possibilities. This chapter functions as a how-to manual and a review of recent work in the field, as well as a template noting absences and opportunities in posthumanist theory’s engagement with early modern texts and culture.
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Raber, K. (2022). Early Modern Posthumanism. In: Herbrechter, S., Callus, I., Rossini, M., Grech, M., de Bruin-Molé, M., John Müller, C. (eds) Palgrave Handbook of Critical Posthumanism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04958-3_1
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