Culture of Accidents: Unexpected Knowledges in Early Modern EnglandStanford University Press, 1 de set. 2002 - 240 pàgines Collapsing buildings, unexpected meetings in the marketplace, monstrous births, encounters with pirates at sea—these and other unforeseen “accidents” at the turn of the seventeenth century in England acquired unprecedented significance in the early modern philosophical and cultural imagination. Drawing on intellectual history, cultural criticism, and rhetorical theory, this book chronicles the narrative transformation of “accident” from a philosophical dead end to an astonishing occasion for revelation and wonder in early modern religious life, dramatic practice, and experimental philosophy. Embracing the notion that accident was a concept with both learned and popular appeal, the book traces its evolution through Aristotelian, Scholastic, and Calvinist thought into a range of early modern texts. It suggests that for many English writers, accidental events raised fundamental questions about the nature of order in the world and the way that order should be apprehended. Alongside texts by such canonical figures as Shakespeare and Bacon, this study draws on several lesser-known authors of sensational news accounts about accidents that occurred around the turn of the seventeenth century. The result is a cultural anatomy of accidents as philosophical problem, theatrical conceit, spiritual landmark, and even a prototype for Baconian “experiment,” one that provides a fresh interpretation of the early modern engagement with contingency in intellectual and cultural terms. |
Des de l'interior del llibre
Resultats 1 - 5 de 46.
... fact , a model for a certain kind of indirect action , a spontaneous form of reve- lation traditionally associated with the female goddess Fortuna , whom Bacon wanted to imitate in a regime of deliberate experimentation . Ac- cidents ...
... fact and fiction , artifice and spontaneity , and ul- timately , event and action . This categorical instability is crucial for their status as early modern wonders , which as a group tended to straddle important ontological divisions ...
... fact that many of these patterns could have been explained within the prevailing natural philosophy as the result of chance - as the " ac- cidental " development of a significant pattern - only enhanced their paradoxical linkage with ...
... fact and the weird symmetry of fiction , accidents blurred the difference between real and imagined worlds , drawing one to the other without necessarily securing a boundary between the two . This connection with fiction should be made ...
... fact which popular writers never tired of reminding their readers of , even if it might tem- porarily be forgotten.20 In 1623 , one anonymous writer characterized the situation as follows : [ T ] he world is a Theater , and the actions ...
Continguts
Early Modern Accidents and an Aristotelian Tradition | 17 |
Exemplary Accidents from Cicero to Jean Calvin | 42 |
The Avoidance of Ends in The Comedy of Errors | 62 |
Hamlet Interrupted | 82 |
Accident and the Invention of Knowledge in Francis | 111 |
The Blackfriars Accident | 130 |
Notes | 159 |
Bibliography | 205 |
Index | 219 |
Altres edicions - Mostra-ho tot
Culture of Accidents: Unexpected Knowledges in Early Modern England Michael Witmore Previsualització limitada - 2002 |
Culture of Accidents: Unexpected Knowledges in Early Modern England Michael Witmore Previsualització no disponible - 2002 |