1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910825977803321

Autore

Watson Robert N

Titolo

Back to nature : the green and the real in the late Renaissance / / Robert N. Watson

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Philadelphia, : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008

ISBN

0812239059 (hbk)

9780812204254

0812204255

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

viii, 436 p. : ill. ; ; 24 cm

Disciplina

820.93609031

Soggetti

English literature - Early modern, 1500-1700 - History and criticism

Nature in literature

Pastoral literature, English - History and criticism

Philosophy of nature in literature

Nature in art

Human ecology in literature

Renaissance - England

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [397]-417) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Part I. Introduction The Green and the Real -- 1. Ecology, Epistemology, and Empiricism -- 2. Theology, Semiotics, and Literature -- Part II. Paradoxes Alienation from Nature in English Literature -- 3. As You Liken It: Simile in the Forest -- 4. Shades of Green: Marvell's Garden and the Mowers -- Part III. Reformations Protestant Politics, Poetics, and Paintings -- 5. Metaphysical and Cavalier Styles of Consciousness -- 6. The Retreat of God, the Passions of Nature, and the Objects of Dutch Painting -- 7. Nature in Two Dimensions: Perspective and Presence in Ryckaert, Vermeer, and Others -- Part IV. Solutions The Consolations of Mediation -- 8. Metal and Flesh in The Merchant of Venice: Shining Substitutes and Approximate Values -- 9. Thomas Traherne: The World as Present -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Acknowledgments

Sommario/riassunto

Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title



Sweeping across scholarly disciplines, Back to Nature shows that, from the moment of their conception, modern ecological and epistemological anxieties were conjoined twins. Urbanization, capitalism, Protestantism, colonialism, revived Skepticism, empirical science, and optical technologies conspired to alienate people from both the earth and reality itself in the seventeenth century. Literary and visual arts explored the resulting cultural wounds, expressing the pain and proposing some ingenious cures. The stakes, Robert N. Watson demonstrates, were huge. Shakespeare's comedies, Marvell's pastoral lyrics, Traherne's visionary Centuries, and Dutch painting all illuminate a fierce submerged debate about what love of nature has to do with perception of reality.