Mareile Pfannebecker

My principal areas of research are in early modern literature and critical and cultural theory. I am interested in the current debate about the limits of the human in critical posthumanism and the ways in which early modern culture figures similar concerns: how are early seventeenth century humans seen to relate to angels and other animals, and how do early modern technology and machinery disrupt the great chain of being?

I have worked on a range of early modern writing including women’s letter writing, English travel writing about Italy and drama, especially by Shakespeare and Jonson. I have a particular interest in the works of Jacques Derrida and other poststructuralist theory, as well as current work in biopolitics.

I am working on a monograph, provisionally titled Shakespeare, Jonson and the Limits of Human Politics.