Baroque Self-Invention and Historical Truth by Christopher Braider

Baroque Self-Invention and Historical Truth by Christopher Braider

In his monumental study, Christopher Braider explores the dialectical contest between history and truth that defines the period of cultural transition called the 'baroque'. For example, Annibale Carracci's portrayal of the Stoic legend of Hercules at the Crossroads departs from earlier, more static representations that depict an emblematic demigod who has already rejected the fallen path of worldly Pleasure for the upward road of heroic Virtue. Braider argues that, in breaking with tradition in order to portray a tragic soliloquist whose dominant trait is agonized indecision, Carracci joins other baroque artists, poets and philosophers in rehearsing the historical dilemma of choice itself. Carracci's picture thus becomes a framing device that illuminates phenomena as diverse as the construction of gender in baroque painting and science, the Pauline ontology of art in Caravaggio and Rembrandt, the metaphysics of baroque soliloquy and the dismantling of Cartesian dualism in Cyrano de Bergerac and Pascal.

'.. a monument and a legacy to Baroque studies that works through an impressive body of material to reach broad and timely conclusions.' Tom Conley, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University

Christopher Braider is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the author of Refiguring the Real: Picture and Modernity in Word and Image, 1400-1700 (1993) and Indiscernible Counterparts: The Invention of the Text in French Classical Drama (2002).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780754638810
ISBN 10	0754638812
Title	Baroque Self-Invention and Historical Truth
Author	Christopher Braider
Series	Studies In European Cultural Transition
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Routledge
Year published	2004-09-28
Number of pages	216
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.