Bluestockings Displayed
Bluestockings Displayed

Author: Elizabeth Eger

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-11-21

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 1316154254

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The conversation parties of the bluestockings, held to debate contemporary ideas in eighteenth-century Britain, were vital in encouraging female artistic achievement. The bluestockings promoted links between learning and virtue in the public imagination, inventing a new kind of informal sociability that combined the life of the senses with that of the mind. This collection of essays, by leading scholars in the fields of literature, history and art history, provides an interdisciplinary treatment of bluestocking culture in eighteenth-century Britain. It is the first academic volume to concentrate on the rich visual and material culture that surrounded and supported the bluestocking project, from formal portraits and sculptures to commercially reproduced prints. By the early twentieth century, the term 'bluestocking' came to signify a dull and dowdy intellectual woman, but the original bluestockings inhabited a world in which brilliance was valued at every level and women were encouraged to shine and even dazzle.

Casanova
Casanova

Author: Ian Kelly

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2008-10-16

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 1440642516

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In Casanova, noted author Ian Kelly traces the life of Giacomo Casanova, a man whose very name is synonymous with sensuality, seduction and sexual prowess. But Casanova was more than just a great lover. A businessman, diplomat, spy, and philosopher, he authored more than twenty books, including a translation of The Iliad. Confidant to many infamous characters—including Madame de Pompadour, Voltaire, and Catherine the Great—Casanova was undoubtedly charismatic. But how exactly did he seduce himself into infamy? In this richly drawn portrait, Casanova emerges as very much a product of eighteenth-century Venice. He reveled in its commedia del arte and Kelly posits that his successes as both a libertine and a libertarian grew from his careful study of its artifice and illusion. Food, travel, sex: Casanova’s great passions are timeless ones and Kelly brings to life in full flavor the grandeur of his exploits. He also articulates the fascinating personal philosophy that inspired Casanova’s quest to bed all manner of women. A riveting look at the life of the most legendary lover of all time, this is destined to become the definitive biography of Giacomo Casanova.

Artists, Writers, and Diplomats’ Wives
Artists, Writers, and Diplomats’ Wives

Author: Evelyn M. Cherpak

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2023-08-17

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1538181002

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In Artists, Writers, and Diplomats' Wives: Impressions of Women Travelers in Imperial Russia, the experiences and impressions of sixteen European and North American women who both lived and traveled in Russia during times of peace and war come alive. All these women had their own reasons for going to Russia. Some went with their husband who settled there, others went to paint the aristocracy, to help the lepers or report on the Russian Revolution of 1917. Their experiences and observations of Russian political, social, and cultural life led them to write letters and books and keep journals and diaries about what they saw and how they responded to it---both positively and negatively.