Botanical Poetics
In this episode
As a closing of the enriching visit of literary scholar Jessica Rosenberg to our research training group “Kleine Formen”, in the summer of 2024 the microform team interviewed her at the Botanical Garden of Berlin about her first book Botanical Poetics: Early Modern Plant Books and the Husbandry of Print (2023), as well as on her current project “Shakespeare’s Second Nature. Tricks, Knacks and the remaking of Renaissance Worlds”.
This interview is the second feature on Rosenberg’s visit (you can join the first one here). In our visit to the Botanical Garden in Berlin-Lichterfelde we talked about the reciprocal influence between plant forms and textual forms in early modern print objects. Through the episode, Rosenberg invites us to discover a category of early modern print objects that she calls “plant books”.
Rosenberg situates her research in late sixteenth-century England where she observes in plants and texts a common potency: she argues how fragmentariness and mobility are present in both, the cultivation of land and the publication of books. She notes how the preservation and circulation of texts in early modern Europe are organised by ‘plant thought’ itself, which she conceptualises as ‘botanical poetics’. With this analytical perspective, she succeeds in showing how two discourses that interpret and found the early modern world intersect. This praxeological perspective is very productive in tracing the genesis of forms and their theorisation.
Another part of our conversation with Rosenberg focused on her new subject of research: small epistemic forms like recipes, tricks, knacks and comedic plays. Still situated in early modern times and at the intersections of literary, technological and praxeological discourses, these small forms and their uses allowed us to draw arcs to our present times in fascinating ways.
Following the logic of fragmentation and interconnectedness, this episode invites you to listen in a non-chronological way. Feel free to enter the narrative wherever you want and find your way through this acoustic garden. Technically, this is possible by selecting the individual chapters. If you are listening to the podcast here, you can access them by clicking on the small sign in the bottom left-hand corner. If you’re using Spotify, you will find an overview of the different chapters by clicking on the detail page of this episode.
Jessica Rosenberg is an associate professor at Cornell University, researching early modern literature and culture, history of science, plant studies, and book history.
Recommended citation:
“Botanical Poetics: Interview with Jessica Rosenberg”, in: microform. Der Podcast des Graduiertenkollegs Literatur- und Wissensgeschichte kleiner Formen, available at: www.kleine-formen.de/botanical-poetics-Jessica-Rosenberg, Berlin 2025 2025.
Sources:
Rosenberg, Jessica. “Introduction”; “‘What Kind of thing I Am’: Plant Books in Space and Time”, in: Botanical Poetics: Early Modern Plant Books and the Husbandry of Print. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023. JSTOR. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2g7v1xs.
Images:
(1) Thomas Hill, The Gardeners Labyrinth (London: Henry Bynneman, 4:88), sig. D4r. By permission of the British Library. Shelfmark 6:3.a.3. Chapter 1. “‘What Kind of thing I Am’: Plant Books in Space and Time”, In Botanical Poetics: Early Modern Plant Books and the Husbandry of Print, p. 46. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023. JSTOR.
(2) Thomas Hill, The Profitable Arte of Gardeninge, Nowe the Thirde Time Sette Forth (London: Thomas Marsh, 4:81). RB 322:1, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Chapter 1. “‘What Kind of thing I Am’: Plant Books in Space and Time”, In Botanical Poetics: Early Modern Plant Books and the Husbandry of Print, p. 49. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023. JSTOR.
(3) Humphrey Gifford, A Posie of Gilloflowers (London: [by Thomas Dawson] for John Perrin, 4:72), title page. By permission of the British Library. Shelfmark 135.g.33. “‘What Kind of thing I Am’: Plant Books in Space and Time”, In Botanical Poetics: Early Modern Plant Books and the Husbandry of Print, p. 51. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023. JSTOR.
Credits
Speakers
Marvin Renfordt, Ana María Orjuela-Acosta, Marie van Bömmel, Johann Gartlinger
Script
Marie van Bömmel, Johann Gartlinger, Ana María Orjuela-Acosta, Marvin Renfordt
Editors
Marie van Bömmel, Johann Gartlinger, Ana María Orjuela-Acosta, Marvin Renfordt
Mastering
Johann Gartlinger
Music
“Single minimalist ambient” by kjartan_abel; “Atmospheres: Afternoon” by bbc.co.uk [2024]; “Tidal Foam”, “Brer Rhetta”, “Calmion”, “Lechuza” and “Vdet” by Blue Dot Sessions; “Big Splash” by Johann Gartlinger
Jingle
Michael Hoeldke (composition) and Cathrin Bonhoff (voice)
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Jessica Rosenberg for her disposition and openness to work on this special episode.