Alchemia poetica. Chemical Knowledge and Poetry around 1600 (A06)

• Subject Area: German Literary and Cultural Studies (Modern German Literature) ; History of Science
• Term: from 2012 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 191249397

The project’s main focus is on the works of Michael Maier (especially the Atalanta fugiens, 1618) and Johann Valentin Andreae’s Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz (Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosenkreutz, 1616). The aim is to examine the (al)chemical knowledge found in these texts and the forms in which this knowledge is transmitted, in particular its encryption through references to ancient mythology, through enigmas and emblems. The project will also investigate the way these works employ more recent strategies of transfer made possible through the introduction of printing, their strategies of authorisation and their relation to the emerging genre of chemical textbooks.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 980: Episteme in Motion - Transfer of Knowledge from the Ancient World to the Early Modern Period
• Applicant Institution: Freie Universität Berlin
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Volkhard Wels