New Book Published by Prof. Chiara Graf

Prof. Graf's new book, Seneca's Affective Cosmos, was published by Oxford University Press.

Congratulations to Prof. Graf, whose new book, entitled Seneca's Affective Cosmos: Subjectivity, Feeling, and Knowledge in the Natural Questions and Beyond, just came out this fall on Oxford University Press. 

Her book treats the literary, philosophical, and scientific works of Seneca the Younger. Graf argues that, despite his Stoic philosophical commitments, Seneca sees therapeutic and didactic potential in even extreme emotions. For instance, in Seneca’s meteorological treatise Natural Questions, stupefaction and anxiety are presented as vehicles for grasping the immensity of the cosmos and the powerlessness of the human subject. Similarly, in his tragedy Trojan Women, grief and hopelessness serve as a paradoxical source of serenity for the protagonist Andromache. Ultimately, Prof. Graf argues, Seneca suggests that we cannot grasp a full picture of our world without affectively investing in it.