Description
Few periods in history are so fundamentally contradictory as the Baroque, the culture flourishing from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth centuries in Europe. When we hear the term âBaroque,â the first images that come to mind are symmetrically designed gardens in French chateaux, scenic fountains in Italian squares, and the vibrant rhythms of a harpsichord. Behind this commitment to rule, harmony, and rigid structure, however, the Baroque also embodies a deep fascination with wonder, excess, irrationality, and rebellion against order. The Oxford Handbook of the Baroque delves into this contradiction to provide a sweeping survey of the Baroque not only as a style but also as a historical, cultural, and intellectual concept. With its thirty-eight chapters edited by leading expert John D. Lyons, the Handbook explores different manifestations of Baroque culture, from theatricality in architecture and urbanism to opera and dance, from the role of water to innovations in fashion, from mechanistic philosophy and literature to the tension between religion and science. These discussions present the Baroque as a broad cultural phenomenon that arose in response to the enormous changes emerging from the sixteenth century: the division between Catholics and Protestants, the formation of nation-states and the growth of absolutist monarchies, the colonization of lands outside Europe and the mutual impact of European and non-European cultures. Technological developments such as the telescope and the microscope and even greater access to high-quality mirrors altered mankindâs view of the universe and of human identity itself. By exploring the Baroque in relation to these larger social upheavals, this Handbook reveals a fresh and surprisingly modern image of the Baroque as a powerful response to an epoch of crisis.
Table of Contents
AcknowledgmentsContributorsIntroduction1. The Crisis of the BaroqueJohn D. LyonsPart 1. Visual, Spatial, and Performing Arts2. Decentering the European Imaginary: A Baroque Taste for IndiaFaith Beasley3. Line and Trait of the Baroque RiverTom Conley4. Baroque TheatricalityJulia Gros de Gasquet5. Water in the Baroque GardenStephanie Hanke6. Fashioning the Baroque MaleMartha Hollander7. Antinomies of the 21st-Century Neobaroque: Cormac McCarthy and Demian SchopfMonika Kaup8. The AutomatonJessica Keating9. The Baroque CityDavid Mayernick10. Surface and Substance: Baroque Dress in Spain and France, 1600-1720Lesley Ellis Miller11. Baroque DanceJennifer Nevile12. Ibero-American Architecture and UrbanismPaul Niell13. Baroque Organ MusicDavid Ponsford14. Ottoman BaroqueÜnver Rüstem15. Baroque OperaDowning A. Thomas16. Machine PlaysHélène Visentin17. OrnamentationMichael YonanPart 2. Literary and Philosophical Writing18. Organization of Knowledge from Ramus to DiderotEmmanuel Bury19. Experience and Knowledge in the BaroqueAnthony J. Cascardi20. Conversation and CivilityDelphine Denis21. The Philosopher's Baroque: Benjamin, Lacan, DeleuzeWilliam Egginton22. The Spanish Baroque NovelEnrique Garcia-Santo-Tomás23. Baroque TragedyBlair Hoxby24. The Baroque as a Literary ConceptKatherine Ibbett and Anna More25. Baroque DiscourseChristopher D. Johnson26. Classical Defense of the BaroqueHélène Merlin-Kajman27. The Baroque and PhilosophyMichael Moriarty28. The Baroque as Anti-Classicism: The French CaseLarry F. Norman29. Is There a Baroque Style of Preaching in Early Modern France?Anne Régent-Susini and Laurent SusiniPart 3. Society, Institutions, and Practices30. Prayer, Meditation, and RetreatMette Birkedal Bruun31. Baroque SexualitiesGary Ferguson32. Paradoxes: Baroque ScienceOfer Gal33. Baroque DiplomacyTimothy Hampton34. The End of Witch HuntingErik Midelfort35. Time and ChronometryRoland Racevskis36. Court Spectacle and EntertainmentGuy Spielmann37. The Baroque StateBarbara Stollberg-Rilinger38. Saints and Baroque PietyThomas WorcesterIndex
