The unknowable in literature and material culture

Margot Irvine, Jeremy Worth

Literature strives to interpret and explain the unknown, and to propose ways in which to engage with it--even if, at least initially, these keys exist only in the realm of the imagination. This is one of the many important qualities that draw us to study literature, and to marvel at the creative understandings that it offers. However, many questions call for further exploration: how does something ""unknowable"", unspeakable, become a subject that can be examined and debated? How have literary and scientific communities entered into the dialogue and exchange that are crucial to the consolidati