Taste and Ideology in Seventeenth-Century France by Michael Moriarty

Taste and Ideology in Seventeenth-Century France by Michael Moriarty

This book analyses the use of the crucial concept of 'taste' in the works of five major seventeenth-century French authors, M r , Saint Evremond, La Rochefoucauld, La Bruy re and Boileau. It combines close readings of important texts with a thoroughgoing political analysis of seventeenth-century French society in terms of class and gender. Dr Moriarty shows that far from being timeless and universal, the term 'taste' is culture-specific, shifting according to the needs of a writer and his social group. The notion of 'taste' not only helped to shape a new dominant culture, but also registered the conflicts within that culture between a view of taste that presupposted the values of 'polite society' as an exclusive (though not necessarily aristocratic) group, and a view that stressed the value of the classical-humanist tradition as a source of standards ratified by a broader public. this study sheds light not only on the central concept, but also on the individual authors discussed and on the norms of French classical literature in general.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780521113366
ISBN 10	0521113369
Title	Taste and Ideology in Seventeenth-Century France
Author	Michael Moriarty
Series	Cambridge Studies In French
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	2009-06-18
Number of pages	244
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.