Divining nature : aesthetics of enchantment in Enlightenment France / Tili Boon Cuillé.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cuillé, Tili Boon, author.

s, The National Endowment for the Humanitie, Author.

Contributor:

s, funder.

Series:

Stanford scholarship online.

Stanford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nature (Aesthetics).

Nature in art.

Nature in literature.

Science and the arts--France--History--18th century.

Science and the arts.

Art and natural history--France--History--18th century.

Art and natural history.

Philosophy of nature--France--History--18th century.

Philosophy of nature.

Enlightenment--France.

Enlightenment.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2021.

Language Note:

In English.

Biography/History:

Tili Boon Cuillé is Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis. She is the author of Narrative Interludes: Musical Tableaux in Eighteenth-Century French Texts (2006).

Summary:

The Enlightenment remains widely associated with the rise of scientific progress and the loss of religious faith, a dual tendency that is thought to have contributed to the disenchantment of the world. In her wide-ranging and richly illustrated book, Tili Boon Cuillé questions the accuracy of this narrative by investigating the fate of the marvelous in the age of reason. Exploring the affinities between the natural sciences and the fine arts, Cuillé examines the representation of natural phenomena - whether harmonious or discordant - in natural history, painting, opera, and the novel from Buffon and Rameau to Ossian and Stal. She demonstrates that philosophical, artistic, and emotional responses to the 'spectacle of nature' in eighteenth-century France included wonder, enthusiasm, melancholy, and the 'sentiment of divinity.'

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction The Spectacle Of Nature

1 The Marvels Of Nature In Buffon And Rameau

2 The Philosophy Of Nature In Diderot And Rousseau

3 The Harmony Of Nature In Paul Et Virginie

4 The Poetics Of Nature In Ossian And Staël

Epilogue A Theater Of Enchantment

Notes

Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2020.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

This eBook is made available Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on April 19, 2021).

ISBN:

9781503614178

1503614174

OCLC:

1229161310