ABSTRACT
Literary Cosmology The primary subject matter of this chapter can be approached in at least two ways depending on how one chooses to combine and stress the first three principal terms of the title: a literary history of astronomy or, a literary history of astronomy. The former has generally been considered the purview of historians of science specializing in the “exact sciences” of mathematics, astronomy and physics, with personal interest in the humanistic contexts of their subjects’ work; whereas the latter has primarily been undertaken by literary scholars and critics with amateur interest in popular astronomy and cosmology. Although the two groups often treat the same primary materials, they rarely emphasize the same scholarly questions or arrive at similar conclusions about their significance. On his own Hardy studied the literary history of astronomy and cosmology from both perspectives, creating a unique understanding of their interplay in human history and consciousness that is evident in the settings and emplotment of his novels. Literary History of Astronomy: Actual and Potential Traditionally trained historians of astronomy and physics have earned their reputations as the most conservative practitioners of history of science. Focusing their studies almost exclusively on the technical aspects of observational-experimental and theoretical astronomy and astrophysics, they scan and scrutinize observational data in tablets and tables, retrace sight lines and calculations, test instruments and their measurements, and confirm astronomical laws and theories. Attempting to see through their subjects’ eyes with as close to the same optics as possible, such scholars often conduct their research, and frequently write about it, in the language of mathematics – geometry and calculus. Their efforts yield exquisite understanding of the descriptive, explanatory and predictive power of astronomy as it has developed over time. Given the high level of commitment to an internalist approach within the field, it is hard to imagine a less literary subdiscipline within the history of science. Many historians of astronomy themselves accept this characterization, although part of their own disciplinary history belies it.
