New Books in the History of Science Jenny C. Mann, "The Trials of Orpheus: Poetry, Science, and the Early Modern Sublime" (Princeton UP, 2021)
Nov 8, 2025
Jenny C. Mann, a Professor at NYU and author of *The Trials of Orpheus*, dives into the intertwining of poetry, science, and the early modern sublime. She discusses her nonlinear writing process and the metaphor of the Orphic literary transmission. Topics include how poetry can astonish listeners unpredictably, the vulnerability in masculine poetics, and the relevance of the sublime in contemporary art. Mann also shares insights about teaching texts that evoke profound philosophical questions, hinting at her next project on infinity and paradox.
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Orpheus As A Theory Of Eloquence
- Orpheus functions as the cultural emblem explaining how eloquence exerts worldly power across time and space.
- Jenny Mann argues poets used the Orpheus myth to objectify and theorize the force of eloquence in early modern thought.
Orpheus Both Produces And Undermines Knowledge
- Early modern poetry both claims epistemic power and simultaneously dissolves authorial authority when Orphic contact occurs.
- Mann holds these contradictory roles of Orpheus together as central to Renaissance literary thought.
Use Revision To Find Your Argument
- Embrace nonlinear, meandering drafting to discover arguments through writing and revision.
- Jenny Mann recommends extensive drafting and revision as integral to finding claims and structure.
