Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France
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Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France by Robert Darnton
Early in 1788, Franz Anton Mesmer arrived in Paris and began to promulgate an exotic theory of healing that almost immediately seized the imagination of the general populace. Robert Darnton's lively study provides a useful contribution to the study of popular culture and the manner in which ideas are diffused down through various social levels.
A fascinating study of the effects that the theories of the notorious Viennese physician, Franz Mesmer, had upon social and political thinkers during the two decades preceding the French RevolutionThis book is a skillful exploration of the various psychological factors that made mesmerism a widely accepted attitude… [The book] will interest literary scholars as well as historians since mesmerism is examined as a phenomenon that bequeathed an attitude that found its expression in the writings of the preromantics and the romantics. * Virginia Quarterly Review *
This is an excellent book and one of singular interest both to the historian of science and to the French historian. * Isis *
[An] excellent and exemplary study in the history of ideas. Based on a thorough study of manuscripts, pamphlets, and journals, learned in its broad setting and persuasive in its internal logic, supported by richly relevant quotations and reproductions of contemporary engravings, Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France provides a commendable model for those interested in the way ‘true’ and ‘false’ ideas interact and broadly influence behavior. * Science *
This is an excellent book and one of singular interest both to the historian of science and to the French historian. * Isis *
[An] excellent and exemplary study in the history of ideas. Based on a thorough study of manuscripts, pamphlets, and journals, learned in its broad setting and persuasive in its internal logic, supported by richly relevant quotations and reproductions of contemporary engravings, Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France provides a commendable model for those interested in the way ‘true’ and ‘false’ ideas interact and broadly influence behavior. * Science *
Robert Darnton is the author of numerous award-winning books on French cultural history, including The Revolutionary Temper. A MacArthur Fellow, chevalier in the Légion d’honneur, and winner of the National Humanities Medal and the National Book Critics Circle Award, he is Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and Director of the University Library, Emeritus, at Harvard University.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780674569515 |
| ISBN 10 | 0674569512 |
| Title | Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France |
| Author | Robert Darnton |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Harvard University Press |
| Year published | 1986-01-01 |
| Number of pages | 232 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |