Banner graphic for She-philosopher.com: Studies in the history of science, technology & culture
Your support enables us to further develop this unique collection of online resources for scholars: Donate to She-philosopher.com!

Q U I C K   L I N K S

To learn about other modern interpretations of the labors of Sisyphus, see this website’s HOME page.

Click/tap here for some reflections on Andy Goldsworthy’s “walking wall” — a modern sculptor’s view of masonry as performance art, in the Sisyphean mode.

N O T E

Can’t find something you’re sure you learned about here?
  Try using our customized search tool (search box at the top of the right-hand sidebar on this page), which is updated every time new content is added to the public areas of the website, thus ensuring the most comprehensive and reliable searches of She-philosopher.​com.
  Learn more about our ethical, customized search tool here.

symbol for RELOAD CURRENT PAGE in browser

  To ensure that you’re viewing She-philosopher.​com’s most recently-updated content (both here and elsewhere at the website), don’t forget to use your browser’s Reload current page button — typically, an icon featuring a broken circle, with arrowhead on one end. For some computers, the keyboard shortcuts, Ctrl+R and F5 or Command-R, will also work; or you can right-click for a context-sensitive menu with the Reload this page button/command. (This is known as a “normal reload.”)
  Refreshing a page is especially important if you find yourself visiting the same Web page more than once within a relatively short time frame. I may have made modifications to the page in the interim, and you won’t always know this unless you force your browser to access the server (rather than your computer’s cache) to retrieve the requested Web page.
  If you encounter problems using your browser’s Back button (left-facing arrow), especially when moving back-and-forth to/from anchors (i.e., anything following the hash tag at the end of a Web page address), you may have to Reload current page multiple times to get your Back button working again.
  If this doesn’t work, try forcing a “hard reload.” Keyboard shortcuts for forcing a HARD RELOAD in Google’s Chrome browser are Ctrl+Shift+R and Ctrl+F5 on Windows computers.
  An alternative work-around is to open a new tab (e.g., click on the + icon to the right of your open tabs; or use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+T; or right-click for a context-sensitive menu with the Open link in new tab command) and start over again (i.e., enter the full URL in the new tab’s address bar at the top of the browser).
  Anyone out there with a neater fix for this problem, please let me know.

go to TOP of page


First Published:  8 November 2014
Revised (substantive):  27 June 2025


Empty Reference!

S O R R Y,  but the Web page you’re looking for hasn’t been posted yet, and I have still to break ground on its construction.

I apologize for the inconvenience, and hope that you will return to check on its progress another time.

I am passionately committed to my 17th-century research, and to exploring the many creative opportunities Web publication offers independent scholars like me. Those of us engaged in the Sisyphean task of independent digital-media content creation and website development need plenty of leeway to keep on doing what we do.

facsimile of late-6th-century BCE ceramic decoration

^ The Labors of Sisyphus. Detail from a painting (late 6th-century BCE) on a Greek amphora (a vessel, with two handles, used by the ancients for holding wine, oil, etc.). In Greek mythology, the cunning king of Corinth (Sisyphus) was punished in the Underworld by having repeatedly to roll a huge stone up a hill, only to have it roll down again as soon as he had brought it to the summit. Anyone in the 21st century who designs, develops and/or maintains a high-quality website is engaged in a never-ending Sisyphean task.
 

I’m still trying to figure out the best way to manage burgeoning scholarly content in slow haste, as I first noted elsewhere back in 2018. Like the printed scholarly monograph it has disrupted, She-philosopher.com must meet rigorous academic standards conducive to peer review. Content creation at this level is tedious and time-consuming, while rapid technological & market shifts inherent to this medium can scuttle a long-term project at the last minute. There is a lot involved behind-the-scenes to keep this website up and running.

I ask for your patience as you watch me try out new ideas ... make big mistakes ... then correct course, and try again....

If you have specific questions relating to She-philosopher.com’s ongoing research projects, contact the website editor.

late-17th-century printer's decorative tail-piece

^  Tail-piece from the Latin edition of Margaret Cavendish’s biography of her husband, William, first duke of Newcastle, entitled De Vita et Rebus Gestis Nobilissimi Illustrissimique Principis Guilielmi Ducis Novo-Castrensis (London, 1668). As published authors and activist patrons of the arts & sciences, both Margaret and William were linked-in to global social networks during the golden age of discovery, about which Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) quipped: “I do not much wish well to discoveries, for I am always afraid they will end in conquest and robbery.”

go to TOP of page