Peripheries of the Enlightenment (SVEC 2008:01) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0729409260 ISBN 13: 9780729409261

Publisher: Voltaire Foundation, 2008

Synopsis

‘Enlightenment’ is a universal concept, but its meaning is most clearly revealed by seeing how it was engaged with, reconfigured or rejected, on a local level. Peripheries of the Enlightenment seeks to rethink the ‘centre/periphery’ model, and to consider the Enlightenment as a more widely spread movement with national, regional and local varieties, focusing on activity as much as ideas.

The debate is introduced by two chapters which explore the notion of periphery from vantage points at the very heart of ‘enlightened’ Europe: Ferney and Geneva. Through thirteen ensuing chapters, the interaction between ‘Enlightenment’ and ‘periphery’ is explored in a variety of spatial and temporal contexts ranging from Mexico to Russia. Drawing on urban and provincial as well as national case studies, contributors argue that we can learn at least as much about the Enlightenment from commentators at the geographical and cultural borders of the ‘enlightened’ world as from its most radical theorists in its early epicentres.

Crossing the boundaries between histories of literature, religion, science and political and economic thought, Peripheries of the Enlightenment is not only international in its outlook but also interdisciplinary in its scope, and offers readers a new and more global vision of the Enlightenment.

About this title

About the Author

Simon Davies was formerly Professor of Enlightenment Studies and the founding Director of the Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies at Queen’s University Belfast. He is the assistant Director of the correspondence of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (Electronic Enlightenment) and the general editor of two volumes of Bernardin’s Complete Works (Garnier).

Edition details

• Publisher: Voltaire Foundation
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0729409260
• ISBN 13: 9780729409261
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 349
• Editor: Butterwick Richard, Davies Simon, Sánchez-Espinosa Gabriel