1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910746986303321

Autore

Cuillé Tili Boon

Titolo

Divining nature : aesthetics of enchantment in Enlightenment France / / Tili Boon Cuillé [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Stanford, California : , : Stanford University Press, , 2021

ISBN

1-5036-1417-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource

Collana

Stanford scholarship online

Disciplina

700.108094409033

Soggetti

Nature (Aesthetics)

Nature in art

Nature in literature

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

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

Philosophy of nature - France - History - 18th century

Enlightenment - France

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Previously issued in print: 2020.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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

Sommario/riassunto

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.'