The Writing of Natural Disaster in Europe, 1500–1826 : Events in Excess

This book explores reactions to and representations of natural disasters in early modern Europe. The contributors illustrate how the cultural production of the period - in manuals, treatises, sermons, travelogues and fiction - grappled with environmental catastrophe. Crucially, they interrogate how people in the early modern era rationalized and mediated the threat of events like plagues, great frosts, storms, floods and earthquakes. A vital contribution to environmental history, this book highlights the parallels between early modern responses to natural disaster and climate anxiety in our own era. Sandhya Patel is Senior Lecturer in Eighteenth-Century Studies at Université Clermont Auvergne, France. Sophie Chiari-Lasserre is Professor of Early Modern English Literature at Université Clermont Auvergne, France Contents 5 List of Contributors 7 List of Tables 8 1 General Introduction 9 Bibliography 19 Part I Elucidating Events in Excess in Early Modern Manuals, Pamphlets and Pastorals 20 2 Prognosticating Tempests in The Arte of Navigation by Richard Eden 21 1 The Arte of Navigation: Richard Eden’s Translation of Martín Cortés’s Breve Compendio 23 2 Interpreting Tempests: The Shift from Astrology to Astronomy 26 3 ‘To Understand the Reason That Moued Them’ (Giiv): Erring, Tempests and God in The Arte of Navigation 30 4 Conclusion. The Legacy of The Arte of Navigation 34 Bibliography 36 3 Tending One’s Own Garden: Husbandry, Weather Lore and Prognostication in Early Modern England 39 1 Understanding the Climatic Elements: Signs and Aftermath 41 2 Anticipating the Disasters: Weather-Forecasting Methods as a Budding Empirical Science 44 3 Dealing with the Aftermath: Hoping to Limit the Damage 48 4 Conclusion: From Husbandry Manuals to Modern Techniques: A Matter of Time 51 References 51 4 Pests, Plagues and Pastoral Husbandry: Representing Ovine Disease in Early Modern England 54 1 A Growing Interest in Ovine Disease 56 2 Natural and Supernatural Etiologies 58 3 Curing and Preventing Disease 61 4 Crossing Species Boundaries 63 5 Conclusion: A Continuing Environmental Threat 65 References 66 Part II Directed Discussions of Disaster 69 5 Acqua Alta, Silting, and Plague: Representing Venetian Resilience from an Early Modern British Perspective 70 1 Lagoon Mythologies: Deluge, Draining, Pestilence, and Providence 71 2 Natural Disasters: Lexical and Lexicographical Perspectives 75 3 Environmental Perspectives and the Politics of Care 77 4 Strategies of Survival on Stage 82 5 Conclusion. Revisiting the Myth of Venice Through the Lens of Resilience Management 85 Bibliography 86 6 The Advent of Natural Disaster: The Earthquake in the Philosophical Transactions (1664/5–1700) 89 1 A Panorama of Events 91 2 ‘Wonderful Circumstances Attending Earthquakes’ 92 3 ‘Farther Ruin to the Previous Destruction’ 96 4 Conclusion. ‘Preservatives Against Future Earthquakes’ 101 Appendix A 102 Bibliography 108 7 ‘Improving This Terrible Visitation’: The Three Thomases and the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake 110 1 Thomas Gibbons, a Sermon Preached at Haberdasher’s-Hall 112 2 Thomas Hunter, an Historical Account of Earthquakes 116 3 Thomas Alcock, a Sermon on the Late Earthquakes 120 4 Conclusion: The Low Rumble of Shifting Tectonic Plates 125 Bibliography 126 Part III Poetics of Disaster 128 8 The Illusive Elements in Purcell and Dryden’s King Arthur 129 1 Elemental Logic 130 2 Elements at War 135 3 A Vision of Harmony 138 4 Elements of Illusion 140 5 Conclusion: The ‘Mildness of Sweet Britain’s Clime’ 142 Bibliography 143 9 Mary Shelley, Natural Disasters and ‘Catastrophes’ 145 1 Frankenstein (1818) 147 2 The Last Man (1826) 154 3 Conclusion: Shelley’s ‘Strange Star’ 158 Bibliography 158 10 Comparative Collapsology: From Shakespeare to George R. R. Martin 161 1 The Polysemic and Apocalyptic Imagery of the Natural Disasters 162 2 The Prophetic Signs of the Eschatological Natural Disasters 167 3 Between Nature and Culture: Unavoidable Natural Disasters 170 4 Assembling to Confront the Impending Threat 173 5 Conclusion: ‘Is This the Promised End?’ 174 Bibliography 175 Index 177 This book explores reactions to and representations of natural disasters in early modern Europe. The contributors illustrate how the cultural production of the period - in manuals, treatises, sermons, travelogues and fiction - grappled with environmental catastrophe. Crucially, they interrogate how people in the early modern era rationalized and mediated the threat of events like plagues, great frosts, storms, floods and earthquakes. A vital contribution to environmental history, this book highlights the parallels between early modern responses to natural disaster and climate anxiety in our own era. Sandhya Patel is Senior Lecturer in Eighteenth-Century Studies at Université Clermont Auvergne, France. Sophie Chiari-Lasserre is Professor of Early Modern English Literature at Université Clermont Auvergne, France