| Nervous Acts: Essays on Literature, Culture and Sensibility 2004 Edition Contributor(s): Rousseau, G. (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 1403934533 ISBN-13: 9781403934536 Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan OUR PRICE: $104.49 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: December 2004 Annotation: Between 1970 and 2000 George Rousseau wrote a series of landmark essays about the role of nervous physiology in literature and history that altered the landscape of eighteenth-century studies. The essays changed the direction of some Enlightenment thought and configured the rise of sensibility in new ways. Since then much work has been done which engages, challenges, adopts, and expands on Rousseau's original discussions. This volume collects and reprints the most important of those essays and surveys the current critical moment as it touches on the vocabularies Rousseau pioneered. The introduction surveys nerves from the ancients to the moderns, and then selects examples in literature where the literary and moral elements of nervous discourse are especially prominent. The epilogue engages with the critical reception of the original essays and provides biographical and critical reflections on the legacy of the nerves in literary scholarship. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Essays - History | Europe - General - History | Social History |
| Dewey: 809.933 |
| LCCN: 2004051264 |
| Physical Information: 1.02" H x 6.26" W x 8.88" (1.34 lbs) 395 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: These essays demonstrate the sweeping influence of the human nervous system on the rise of literature and sensibility in early modern Europe. The brain and nerves have usually been treated as narrow topics within the history of science and medicine. Now George Rousseau, an international authority on the relations of literature and medicine, demonstrates why a broader context is necessary. The nervous system was a crucial factor in the rise of recent civilization. More than any other body part, it holds the key to understanding how far back the strains and stresses of modern life - fatigue, depression, mental illness - extend. |