| The Story of 0: Prostitutes and Other Good-For-Nothings in the Renaissance Contributor(s): Jaffe, Michele (Author) |
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ISBN: 0674839501 ISBN-13: 9780674839502 Publisher: Harvard University Department of Comparative OUR PRICE: $41.58 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: September 1999 Annotation: This work unfolds the idea of "nothing" out of a Titian painting of Dana and the shower of gold. Jaffee's philological and pictorial argument links, across several languages, such seemingly disparate concepts as money, coins, mothers (through the mint's matrix), subjects, courtiers, prostitutes (through etymologies that join minting, standing-under, standing-for), ciphers, codes, and the codex form. This ambitious book is a cultural history of the "cipher" zero as code and as nothing, as the absence of value and the place-holder constructing value. It traces the wide-ranging implications of "nothing"--not only in mathematics but also in literature. Along the way, it makes important points about the orthography and editing of early modern texts, and about the material affinities of these texts with painting and minting. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Europe - Italy - History | World - General |
| Dewey: 945.05 |
| LCCN: 99028467 |
| Series: Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature |
| Physical Information: 0.71" H x 6.4" W x 9.52" (1.08 lbs) 176 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This work unfolds the idea of "nothing" out of a Titian painting of Dana and the shower of gold. Michele Jaffe's philological and pictorial argument links, across several languages, such seemingly disparate concepts as money, coins, mothers (through the mint's matrix), subjects, courtiers, prostitutes (through etymologies that join minting, standing-under, standing-for), ciphers, codes, and the codex form. This ambitious book is a cultural history of the "cipher" zero as code and as nothing, as the absence of value and the place-holder constructing value. It traces the wide-ranging implications of "nothing"--not only in mathematics but also in literature. Along the way, it makes important points about the orthography and editing of early modern texts, and about the material affinities of these texts with painting and minting. |
Contributor Bio(s): Jaffe, Michele: - Michele Jaffe is the author of the novel The Stargazer and other fiction for adults and young adults. |