Overview

Can feelings be wrong? Scientists agree that emotions contain both a cognitive and a physiological component. The cognitive part can be modified, while the physiological response is largely involuntary. In religious terms, the answer is clear in its legislation of heart motives: love your enemies, lust is equivalent to adultery, hate is the same thing as murder. In Perilous Passions, Hilaire Kallendorf draws on early modern Spanish theatre to reveal how emotions have always been understood as central to ethics. Starting with a treatise on emotion, On the Passions of the Soul by Juan Luis Vives (14931540), Kallendorf uses pairs of opposing emotions love/hatred, desire/aversion, joy/sorrow, hope/despair, and courage/fear to explore how they are depicted in Golden Age plays. The book pinpoints and probes intersections of feelings with morality. It asks: Do emotions bear positive or negative ethical overtones? Which emotions are more conducive to virtue? Are passions perceived as perilous in early modern Spain, in agreement with Neostoic principles? Or does the Catholic liturgy's emphasis on involving the corporeal senses in worship mean that bodily sensations, including feelings, are accorded pride of place especially in drama? In asking these questions, Perilous Passions argues for the significance of theatre in emotional education.

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9781487527037

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""A text of the utmost relevance for today's challenges, Hilaire Kallendorf's book deepens our understanding of the emotional condition of the modern soul, showing the roots of many of the issues we are facing today about feelings, love, anxiety, happiness, and fear. A very intelligent book by the researcher who knows the most about emotions in early modern Spain.""--Juan-Luis Suárez, Professor of Digital Humanities and Director of the CulturePlex Lab, Western University ""Perilous Passions draws on a wealth of historical writings by eminent philosophers such as Aristotle and Aquinas and seamlessly integrates findings from current psychological and neurological research in a pioneering study that reveals the central role of passion in early modern philosophy and its diverse manifestations in the theatrical landscape of early modern Spain. With eloquence and profound insight, Kallendorf's study makes an indelible mark, offering a significant contribution to our comprehension of the early modern Spanish stage.""--Chad M. Gasta, Professor and Chair of Languages, Literatures & Cultures, University of Delaware

Author Information

Hilaire Kallendorf is a professor of Hispanic and religious studies in the Department of Global Languages and Cultures at Texas A&M University.

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