The Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series, previously known as SVEC (Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century), has published over 500 peer-reviewed scholarly volumes since 1955 as part of the Voltaire Foundation at the University of Oxford. International in focus, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment volumes cover wide-ranging aspects of the eighteenth century and the Enlightenment, from gender studies to political theory, and from economics to visual arts and music, and are published in English or French.
The complex relationship between psychic structures, social norms, and aesthetic representations is a challenge for every analysis of the historical manifestations of human desire. Pangs of Love and Longing: Configurations of Desire in Premodern Literature sets out to provide a deeper understanding of this relation by an assessment of linguistic and artistic configurations of desire in European literature from Antiquity to the Early Modern period. The aim is to explore historic continuities and ruptures in attitudes towards sexuality, pleasures and bodies, as these are represented in a variety of cultural forms, in order to demonstrate the plurality of premodern desire – and, ultimately, to offer fresh perspectives on our present reality. The seventeen scholars participating in the anthology bring together theories and assessments from different areas of the Humanities – German, French, Italian, Spanish, English, and Comparative Literature, History of Ideas and of Art, Theology, Philosophy and Gender Studies. They are all engaged in cross-disciplinary activities at universities in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and they all participate in the Scandinavian network “Configurations of Desire in Premodern Literature” initiated in 2010.
Studies on the reception of the classical tradition are an indispensable part of classical studies. Understanding the importance of ancient civilization means also studying how it was used subsequently. This kind of approach is still relatively rare in the field of Byzantine Studies. This volume, which is the result of the range of interests in (mostly) non-English-speaking research communities, takes an important step to filling this gap by investigating the place and dimensions of ’Byzantium after Byzantium’. This collection of essays uses the idea of ’reception-theory’ and expands it to show how European societies after Byzantium have responded to both the reality, and the idea of Byzantine Civilisation. The authors discuss various forms of Byzantine influence in the post-Byzantine world from architecture to literature to music to the place of Byzantium in modern political debates (e.g. in Russia). The intentional focus of the present volume is on those aspects of Byzantine reception less well-known to English-reading audiences, which accounts for the inclusion of Bulgarian, Czech, Polish and Russian perspectives. As a result this book shows that although so-called 'Byzantinism' is a pan-European phenomenon, it is made manifest in local/national versions. The volume brings together specialists from various countries, mainly Byzantinists, whose works focus not only on Byzantine Studies (that is history, literature and culture of the Byzantine Empire), but also on the influence of Byzantine culture on the world after the Fall of Constantinople.
"Stewart uncovers what is subversive in novels that apparently followed the conventions of the time. Her scholarship is irreproachable." -Elizabeth J. MacArthur, author of Extravagant Narratives: Closure and Dynamics in the Epistolary Form
Fifty years on from Ian Watt's pioneering study, The Rise of the novel, Jenny Mander brings together the work of bibliographers, literary scholars and socio-cultural historians to present a new European perspective on the development of the genre. Remapping the rise of the European novel investigates how prose fiction between 1500 and 1800 was simultaneously shaped by the development of the nation-state and by multiple crossings of geographical, cultural and linguistic boundaries. Drawing on evidence from France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Greece, as well as England, authors argue for a more inclusive history that identifies origins in different times and places, and trace how they interact or diverge. Through detailed case studies and bibliometric analyses, the authors explore the importance of continental and colonial travel in fashioning early-modern novelistic discourse, and examine how translation helps to disseminate 'novel' fictions. Discussion of popularity and pleasure - topics often excluded from traditional histories of the novel- sheds new light on the ways we think about the relationship between literary and social history.
Eighteenth-Century Life looks at all aspects of European culture during the Enlightenment. It is an interdisciplinary publication and covers diverse topics-from picturesque sojourns into English gardens and grottoes to studies of eighteenth-century rhetorical principles and the powers of political discourse. In addition it features review essays and extensive listings of new books.
