The mirror in medieval and early modern culture : specular reflections / edited by Nancy M. Frelick.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Frelick, Nancy M., editor.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Cursor mundi (Turnhout, Belgium) ; v. 25.

Cursor Mundi ; volume 25

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Symbolism--Europe--History.

Symbolism.

Symbolism--Islamic countries--History.

Mirrors.

History.

Islamic countries.

Europe.

Physical Description:

xi, 293 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Turnhout, Belgium : Brepols, [2016]

Language Note:

Text in English and French with some English translations.

Summary:

This volume examines the intersections between material and metaphorical mirrors in medieval and early modern culture. Mirrors have always fascinated humankind. They collapse ordinary distinctions, making visible what is normally invisible, and promising access to hidden realities. Yet, these liminal objects also point to the limitations of human perception, knowledge, and wisdom. In this interdisciplinary volume, specialists in medieval and early modern science, cultural and political history, as well as art history, philosophy, and literature come together to explore the intersections between material and metaphysical mirrors in Europe and the Islamic world. During the time periods studied here, various technologies were transforming the looking glass as an optical device, scientific instrument, and aesthetic object, making it clearer and more readily available, though it remained a rare and precious commodity. While technical innovations spawned new discoveries and ways of seeing, belief systems were slower to change, as expressed in the natural sciences, mystical writings, literature, and visual culture. Mirror metaphors based on analogies established in the ancient world still retained significant power and authority, perhaps especially when related to Aristotelian science, the medieval speculum tradition, religious iconography, secular imagery, Renaissance Neoplatonism, or spectacular Baroque engineering, artistry, and self-fashioning. Mirror effects created through myths, metaphors, rhetorical strategies, or other devices could invite self-contemplation and evoke abstract or paradoxical concepts. Whether faithful or deforming, specular reflections often turn out to be ambivalent and contradictory: sometimes sources of illusion, sometimes reflections of divine truth, mirrors compel us to question the very nature of representation.

Contents:

Aristotle's 'Bloody Mirror' and Natural Science in Medieval and Early Modern Europe / Berthold Hub Hub, Berthold 31

Specular Art and Science: Mirror Metaphor in Medieval Alchemical Texts / Anna Dysert Dysert, Anna 73

Adjusting the Mirror: A Political Remake of Brunetto Latini's Li Livres dou Tresor / David Napolitano Napolitano, David 89

Mirror Metaphors in Persian Sufi Literature / Leila Rahimi Bahmany Bahmany, Leila Rahimi 113

Language as Mirror: Semiramis and Alexander in a Late Byzantine Romance / Alison Beringer Beringer, Alison 131

Sight Lines: The Mirror of the Mind in Medieval Poetics / Suzanne Conklin Akbari Akbari, Suzanne Conklin 149

Comme dans un miroir, comme dans un adage: chatoiements et reflets de la reprise et de l'amitié / Hélène Cazes Cazes, Hélène 171

Mirror/Window, Reflection/Deflection: Regulating the Gaze Inside and Outside the House in Gilles Corrozet's Blasons domestiques (1539) / Elizabeth Black Black, Elizabeth 190

A Mosaic Mirror: Fracture and Fault Line of Ronsard's Amours of 1552 / Tom Conley Conley, Tom 211

Between Stage-Prop and Metaphor: Mirrors in Giovan Battista Delia Porta and Giordano Bruno / Sergius Kodera Kodera, Sergius 235

Portraits et miroirs dans les éloges collectifs de femmes an XVII' siècle / Jean-Philippe Beaulieu Beaulieu, Jean-Philippe 257

The Reflection Sundial at Palazzo Spada in Rome: The Mirror as Instrument, Symbol, and Metaphor / Ulrike Feist Feist, Ulrike 271.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9782503564548

2503564542

OCLC:

944160653