Mountain aesthetics in early modern latin literature.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barton, William M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Latin literature, Medieval and modern--History and criticism.

Latin literature, Medieval and modern.

Mountains in literature.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

1 volume : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] : ROUTLEDGE, 2019.

Summary:

"In the late Renaissance and Early Modern period, man's relationship to nature changed dramatically. An important part of this change occurred in the way that beauty was perceived in the natural world and in the particular features which became privileged objects of aesthetic gratification. This study explores the shift in aesthetic attitude towards the mountain that took place between 1450 and 1750. Over the course of these 300 years the mountain transformed from a fearful and ugly place to one of beauty and splendor. Accepted scholarly opinion claims that this change took place in the vernacular literature of the early and mid-18th century. Based on previously unknown and unstudied material, this volume now contends that it took place earlier in the Latin literature of the late Renaissance and Early Modern period. The aesthetic attitude shift towards the mountain had its catalysts in two broad spheres: the development of an idea of 'landscape' in the geographical and artistic traditions of the 16th century on the one hand, and the increasing amount of scientific and theological investigation dedicated to the mountain on the other, reaching a pinnacle in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The new Latin evidence for the change in aesthetic attitude towards the mountain unearthed in the course of this study brings material to light which is relevant for the current philosophical debate in environmental aesthetics. The book's concluding chapter shows how understanding the processes that produced the late Renaissance and Early Modern shift in aesthetic attitude towards the mountain can reveal important information about the modern aesthetic appreciation of nature. Alongside a standard bibliography of primary literature, this volume also offers an extended annotated bibliography of further Latin texts on the mountains from the Renaissance and Early Modern period. This critical bibliography is the first of its kind and constitutes an essential tool for further study in the field."-- Publisher's website.

Contents:

1 The mountain in Latin: literary heritage p. 15

Josias Simmler's De alpibus commentarius (1574) p. 19

The mountain in Classical literature p. 20

The mountain in Classical literature: concluding remarks p. 45

Mountains of the Bible p. 48

Mountains of the Bible: concluding remarks p. 57

2 Geographia, prospectus, pictura p. 67

Gessner frames the mountain p. 68

The mountain in chorography p. 71

Geography's rebirth in Germania p. 74

Prospectus and the mountain in text p. 81

Early landscape art and the mountain p. 83

Latin and the rise of the landscape genre p. 89

Geography and landscape art come together p. 95

Pliny concludes: a view from Tuscany p. 99

3 Theologia et philosophia naturalis p. 114

The disciplines and their relationship p. 115

Natural philosophy, mountains of the mind and aesthetics p. 117

The mountains and their origins-l'état de question in 1561 p. 120

Mountains in Genesis and Bernhardus Varenius p. 129

A smooth primaeval earth-Josephus Blancanus p. 134

Aesthetics of nature in theology: commentaries on Genesis p. 139

The 'Burnet Controversy' and mountain aesthetics in natural philosophy p. 145

The 'world makers', John Woodward and Dissertationes de Montibus p. 150

Scheuchzer's Itinera Alpina and the changed mountain aesthetic p. 153

4 Aesthetics of nature: the case of the mountain mentality change p. 173

Appreciation of nature in modern philosophical aesthetics-an overview p. 174

Current positions in the aesthetics of nature p. 176

The natural environmental model p. 178

The case of the mountain mentality change p. 183

Methodological considerations p. 183

Theism and positive aesthetics p. 184

The role of natural science in aesthetic-appreciation of nature p. 186

Landscape and the aesthetic appreciation of nature p. 190

Steno and Leonardo: the Tuscan Hills p. 194.

ISBN:

9780367346805

036734680X

OCLC:

1099348939

Publisher Number:

99984953867