Ugly Bugs and Scientific Women; Maria Sybilla Merian and her Fictional Counterpart

• In Event: Vision and Its Instruments in Early Modern Literature III

Abstract

Inspired by exotic insects from a collection in the Netherlands, in 1689 Maria Sybilla Merian travelled to Surinam to see them for herself. After returning to Europe she published Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, a book full of gorgeous images and descriptions that offered glimpses into a world otherwise inaccessible to European readers. Gender motivated and mediated posthumous evaluation of her work. Published in the same year as Metamorphosis, Susanna Centlivre’s play The Basset Table (1705) explores lives of women who challenge social roles. The most independent character is Valeria, a “scientific philosopher,” who like Merian is obsessed with microscopic investigations and scientific exploration. I compare the subversive successes of Valeria in the play to the sublimation of Merian beneath later estimations of her illustrations. Both real and fictional women emphasise the importance of visual representation and developments in science. Merian’s pictorial legacy is matched in Valeria’s spectacular theatrical vision.

Author

• Megan Baumhammer, Princeton University