Book ID: CBB545386684

The Emergence of a Theatrical Science of Man in France, 1660-1740 (2020)

unapi

Connors, Logan J. (Author)


Voltaire Foundation


Publication Date: 2020
Physical Details: 273
Language: English

The emergence of a theatrical science of man in France, 1660-1740 highlights a radical departure from discussions of dramatic literature and its undergirding rules to a new, relational discourse on the emotional power of theater. Through a diverse cast of religious theaterphobes, government officials, playwrights, art theorists and proto-philosophes, Connors shows the concerted effort in early Enlightenment France to use texts about theater to establish broader theories on emotion, on the enduring psychological and social ramifications of affective moments, and more generally, on human interaction, motivation, and social behavior.This fundamentally anthropological assessment of theater emerged in the works of anti-theatrical religious writers, who argued that emotional response was theater's raison d'�tre and that it was an efficient venue to learn more about the depravity of human nature. A new generation of pro-theatrical writers shared the anti-theatricalists' intense focus on the emotions of theater, but unlike religious theaterphobes, they did not view emotion as a conduit of sin or as a dangerous, uncontrollable process; but rather, as cognitive-affective moments of feeling and learning.Connors' study explores this reassessment of the theatrical experience which empowered writers to use plays, critiques, and other cultural materials about the stage to establish a theatrical science of man-an early Enlightenment project with aims to study and 'improve' the emotional, social, and political 'health' of eighteenth-century France.

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Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB545386684/

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Authors & Contributors
Clarke, Desmond M.
Conley, Tom
Coppola, Al
Floyd-Wilson, Mary
Frank, Adam
Giacomoni, Paola
Journals
Science in Context
Eighteenth-Century Studies
Gesnerus
History of European Ideas
Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies
Nuncius: Annali di Storia della Scienza
Publishers
Harvard University
Springer
Duke University
Tufts University
Edinburgh University Press
Presses Universitaires de Louvain
Concepts
Emotions; passions
Drama, dance, and performing arts
Literary analysis
Psychology
Science and culture
Science and literature
People
Descartes, René
Bion, Wilfred Ruprecht
James, William
La Chambre, Marin Cureau de
La Forge, Louis de
Louis XIV, King of France
Time Periods
17th century
18th century
16th century
19th century
Early modern
15th century
Places
France
Italy
England
Great Britain
Venice (Italy)
Belgium
Institutions
Université de Montpellier
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