Gods of Play: Baroque Festive Performances as Rhetorical Discourse

Author:   Kristiaan Aercke
Publisher:   State University of New York Press
ISBN:  

9780791420508


Pages:   284
Publication Date:   16 August 1994
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Gods of Play: Baroque Festive Performances as Rhetorical Discourse


Overview

This book studies the close connections between politics, culture, art, and philosophy in seventeenth-century Europe. As an emblem of this interrelationship, the author has chosen the phenomenon of the ""splendid festive performance"" of spectacular plays and operas given at absolutist courts in Rome, Madrid, Paris, Versailles, and Vienna between 1631 and 1668. Gods of Play fills voids in the scholarly literature on the seventeenth-century, on absolutism, on courtly theatricality, and on the philosophy of play. Aercke demonstrates that such splendid performances were not just frivolous entertainment for the courtly class but were serious activities with far-ranging political consequences.

Full Product Details

Author:   Kristiaan Aercke
Publisher:   State University of New York Press
Imprint:   State University of New York Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.390kg
ISBN:  

9780791420508


ISBN 10:   0791420507
Pages:   284
Publication Date:   16 August 1994
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Prelude: The View from Above 1. Feasts, Allegories, and Politics 2. Rhetoric and Baroque Festive Performances Interlude: The Gods of Play 3. The Barberini Saint: Sant'Alessio 4. El Rey Planeta: El Mayor Encanto, Amor 5. Hercules and the Sun King: Ercole Amante and La Princesse d'Elide 6. Ne Plus Ultra: Il Pomo d'Oro, the Habsburg Apple Bibliography Index

Reviews

While most scholars who have worked on the relationship of art and power in the Renaissance and Baroque ages have limited their focus to one national tradition, or at best to England, France, and Italy, Aercke brings the baroque spectacle performance to life as a truly pan-European phenomenon, as interesting for its common characteristics as for its particular formulation in particular courtly settings. The depth and breadth of his research are most impressive, and the accuracy of his understanding of the cultural politics of these performances is indisputable. - Margaret R. Greer, Princeton University


"""While most scholars who have worked on the relationship of art and power in the Renaissance and Baroque ages have limited their focus to one national tradition, or at best to England, France, and Italy, Aercke brings the baroque spectacle performance to life as a truly pan-European phenomenon, as interesting for its common characteristics as for its particular formulation in particular courtly settings. The depth and breadth of his research are most impressive, and the accuracy of his understanding of the cultural politics of these performances is indisputable."" - Margaret R. Greer, Princeton University"


Author Information

Kristiaan P. Aercke is Assistant Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

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