In which I adore William Cavendish.

To wit, his poem for Margaret Cavendish’s Observations upon Experimental Philosophy:
This book is book of books, and only fits
Great searching brains, and quintessence of wits;
For this will give you an eternal fame,
And last to all posterity your name:
You conquer death, in a perpetual life;
And make me famous too in such a wife.
So I will prophesy [...]

Casu marzu; or, How to Write Your Dissertation.

I will tell you how to write your dissertation: You must have at least one chapter devoted to An Intriguing Personage to Whom Few Have Devoted Space or Thought But Who Remains Nevertheless Fascinating, Especially to The Uninitiated.
Case in point, Margaret Cavendish.
Here, an excerpt from her wondrous The Blazing World (first [...]

CSI: Hamlet.

Seriously, this wasn’t my idea: not one, but two people, independently, suggested it to me after hearing my job talk, which I have (rather unimaginatively, I think) titled, “Hamlet and the Art of Early Modern Neuroforensics.” I feel like I could have done a bit more punning around to beef up the title, but [...]