At publication date, a free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit
www.luminosoa.org to learn more.
Renaissance Futurities considers the intersections between artistic rebirth, the new science, and European imperialism in the global early modern world. Charlene Villaseñor Black and Mari-Tere Álvarez take as inspiration the work of Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), prolific artist and inventor, and other polymaths such as philosopher Giulio “Delminio” Camillo (1480–1544), physician and naturalist Francisco Hernández de Toledo (1514–1587), and writer Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616). This concern with futurity is inspired by the Renaissance itself, a period defined by visions of the future, as well as by recent theorizing of temporality in Renaissance and Queer Studies. This transdisciplinary volume is at the cutting edge of the humanities, medical humanities, scientific discovery, and avant-garde artistic expression.
"This interdisciplinary book is a superb provocation: it asks us to reimagine the Renaissance in both space and time, resituating it at the crossroads of Europe and its early modern empires; art, technology, and science; and alternative pasts and futures. It invites us to rethink teleological narratives of “western civilization” and, ultimately, demands that we chart out a new future as well."—Tara Nummedal, author of
Anna Zieglerin and the Lion's Blood: Alchemy and End Times in Reformation Germany “This volume is truly on the cutting edge of scholarship in the history of science and its connections to art. It approaches the field through the unique lens of futurity, bringing together an eclectic transdisciplinary group of scholars who focus on ingenuity and futuristic thinking in various Renaissance contexts. The editors' conscious effort to include scholars from the fields of history, art, and the natural sciences make this volume especially valuable and innovative, and it will hopefully provide a model for subsequent scholarship in this direction.”—Paula DeVos, Professor of History, San Diego State University
