Before imagination : embodied thought from Montaigne to Rousseau / John D. Lyons.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lyons, John D., 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

French literature--16th century--History and criticism.

French literature.

French literature--17th century--History and criticism.

French literature--18th century--History and criticism.

Imagination in literature.

Philosophy, French--16th century.

Philosophy, French.

Philosophy, French--17th century.

Philosophy, French--18th century.

Imagination (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (302 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Cal. : Stanford University Press, 2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Before imagination became the transcendent and creative faculty promoted by the Romantics, it was for something quite different. Not reserved to a privileged few, imagination was instead considered a universal ability that each person could direct in practical ways. To imagine something meant to form in the mind a replica of a thing—its taste, its sound, and other physical attributes. At the end of the Renaissance, there was a movement to encourage individuals to develop their ability to imagine vividly. Within their private mental space, a space of embodied, sensual thought, they could meditate, pray, or philosophize. Gradually, confidence in the self-directed imagination fell out of favor and was replaced by the belief that the few—an elite of writers and teachers—should control the imagination of the many. This book seeks to understand what imagination meant in early modern Europe, particularly in early modern France, before the Romantic era gave the term its modern meaning. The author explores the themes surrounding early modern notions of imagination (including hostility to imagination) through the writings of such figures as Descartes, Montaigne, François de Sales, Pascal, the Marquise de Sévigné, Madame de Lafayette, and Fénelon.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

One. The Return of Stoic Imagination

Two. Self-Cultivation and Religious Meditation

Three. Picturing Ourselves in the World: Pascal’s Pens´ees

Four. The Imagination of Loss

Five. From Imagination to Significance: The Novel from Scudéry to Lafayette

Six. How the Ancients Modernized Imagination

Conclusion

Notes preface

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-278) and index.

ISBN:

0-8047-6757-2

1-4237-4949-9

OCLC:

191935565