The portrait of the lover / Maurizio Bettini ; translated from the Italian by Laura Gibbs.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bettini, Maurizio, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Love in art.

Arts.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (360 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, California : University of California Press, [1999]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

There are a surprising number of stories from antiquity about people who fall in love with statues or paintings, and about lovers who use such visual representations as substitutes for an absent beloved. In a charmingly conversational, witty meditation on this literary theme, Maurizio Bettini moves into a wide-ranging consideration of the relationship between self and image, the nature of love in the ancient world, the role of representation in culture, and more. Drawing on historical events and cultural practices as well as literary works, The Portrait of the Lover is a lucid excursion into the anthropology of the image. The majority of the stories and poems Bettini examines come from Greek and Roman classical antiquity, but he reaches as far as Petrarch, Da Ponte, and Poe. The stories themselves--ranging from the impassioned to the bizarre, and from the sublime to the hilarious--serve as touchstones for Bettini's evocative explorations of the role of representation in literature and in culture. Although he begins with a consideration of lovers' portraits, Bettini soon broadens his concerns to include the role of shadows, dreams, commemorative statues, statues brought to life, and vengeful statues--in short, an entire range of images that take on a life of their own. The chapters shift skillfully from one theme to another, touching on the nature of desire, loss, memory, and death. Bettini brings to the discussion of these tales not only a broad learning about cultures but also a delighted sense of wonder and admiration for the evocative power and endless variety of the stories themselves.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Author's Preface

Translator's Preface

Introduction

1. The Fundamental Story

2. A Potter Who Was Not Jealous

3. The Story of Admetus, and the True Portrait of the Lover

4. A Plaster Dionysus

5. The Sign Stained by Reality

6. Incredible Loves

7. The Story of the Cruel Painter

8. Lucretius

9. Narcissus and the Twin Images

10. The Insult

11. Seduction and Vendetta

12. The Justice of Death Standing Up

13. The Gaze

14. Respect

15. Premonition

16. Resemblance

17. The Doll

18. Image, Mirror, and Homo Suus

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 01. Okt 2020)

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520354241

0520354249

OCLC:

1198929416