The Moon and the Western Imagination

The Moon and the Western Imagination

Author: Scott L. Montgomery

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2022-03-29

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0816547742

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The Moon is at once a face with a thousand expressions and the archetypal planet. Throughout history it has been gazed upon by people of every culture in every walk of life. From early perceptions of the Moon as an abode of divine forces, humanity has in turn accepted the mathematized Moon of the Greeks, the naturalistic lunar portrait of Jan van Eyck, and the telescopic view of Galileo. Scott Montgomery has produced a richly detailed analysis of how the Moon has been visualized in Western culture through the ages, revealing the faces it has presented to philosophers, writers, artists, and scientists for nearly three millennia. To do this, he has drawn on a wide array of sources that illustrate mankind's changing concept of the nature and significance of heavenly bodies from classical antiquity to the dawn of modern science. Montgomery especially focuses on the seventeenth century, when the Moon was first mapped and its features named. From literary explorations such as Francis Godwin's Man in the Moone and Cyrano de Bergerac's L'autre monde to Michael Van Langren's textual lunar map and Giambattista Riccioli's Almagestum novum, he shows how Renaissance man was moved by the lunar orb, how he battled to claim its surface, and how he in turn elevated the Moon to a new level in human awareness. The effect on human imagination has been cumulative: our idea of the Moon, and therefore the planets, is multilayered and complex, having been enriched by associations played out in increasingly complicated harmonies over time. We have shifted the way we think about the lunar face from a "perfect" body to an earthlike one, with corresponding changes in verbal and visual expression. Ultimately, Montgomery suggests, our concept of the Moon has never wandered too far from the world we know best—the Earth itself. And when we finally establish lunar bases and take up some form of residence on the Moon's surface, we will not be conquering a New World, fresh and mostly unknown, but a much older one, ripe with history.


The Moon & the Western Imagination

The Moon & the Western Imagination

Author: Scott L. Montgomery

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780816519897

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The Moon is at once a face with a thousand expressions and the archetypal planet. Throughout history it has been gazed upon by people of every culture in every walk of life. From early perceptions of the Moon as an abode of divine forces, humanity has in turn accepted the mathematized Moon of the Greeks, the naturalistic lunar portrait of Jan van Eyck, and the telescopic view of Galileo. Scott Montgomery has produced a richly detailed analysis of how the Moon has been visualized in Western culture through the ages, revealing the faces it has presented to philosophers, writers, artists, and scientists for nearly three millennia. To do this, he has drawn on a wide array of sources that illustrate mankind's changing concept of the nature and significance of heavenly bodies from classical antiquity to the dawn of modern science. Montgomery especially focuses on the seventeenth century, when the Moon was first mapped and its features named. From literary explorations such as Francis Godwin's Man in the Moone and Cyrano de Bergerac's L'autre monde to Michael Van Langren's textual lunar map and Giambattista Riccioli's Almagestum novum, he shows how Renaissance man was moved by the lunar orb, how he battled to claim its surface, and how he in turn elevated the Moon to a new level in human awareness. The effect on human imagination has been cumulative: our idea of the Moon, and therefore the planets, is multilayered and complex, having been enriched by associations played out in increasingly complicated harmonies over time. We have shifted the way we think about the lunar face from a "perfect" body to an earthlike one, with corresponding changes in verbal and visual expression. Ultimately, Montgomery suggests, our concept of the Moon has never wandered too far from the world we know best—the Earth itself. And when we finally establish lunar bases and take up some form of residence on the Moon's surface, we will not be conquering a New World, fresh and mostly unknown, but a much older one, ripe with history.


Observing the Moon

Observing the Moon

Author: Peter Wlasuk

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9781852331931

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Observing the Moon is a definitive work, written as a reference book for anyone seriously interested in the Moon and its geology. It is of course a perfect companion for practical observers. Detailed and extensively illustrated chapters catalog ail the interesting lunar features visible in modest telescopes. They are preceded by a crash course in modern lunar geology - based on the vast amount we have learned during and since the Apollo missions - and are followed by chapters on photographic and CCD imaging, drawing and lunar topography. A CD-ROM accompanies this book and contains an atlas of lunar images and much more. The CD-ROM requires a PC running Windows 3.1 or higher, a minimum of 16MB (Windows 3.1), 64MB (Windows 95 up) of memory and a 2x or faster CD-ROM player.


Apollo's Eye

Apollo's Eye

Author: Denis Cosgrove

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2001-05-11

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 9780801864919

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"Cosgrove's analysis traces a pattern of associations between global images and the formation of Western identities, paying tribute to the richly complex cosmographic tradition out of which today's geographical imagination has emerged."--BOOK JACKET.


Moon

Moon

Author: Bernd Brunner

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2010-11-18

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0300168705

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Using werewolves and Wernher von Braun, Stonehenge and the sex lives of sea corals, aboriginal myths, and an Anglican bishop in this new book, the author weaves variegated information into a glimpse of Earth's closest celestial neighbor, whose mere presence inspires us to wonder what might be out there. Going beyond the discoveries of contemporary science, he presents a cultural assessment of our complex relationship with Earth's lifeless, rocky satellite. As well as offering an engaging perspective on such age old questions as "What would Earth be like without the moon?" he surveys the moon's mythical and religious significance and provokes existential soul searching through a lunar lens, inquiring, "Forty years ago, the first man put his footprint on the moon. Will we continue to use it as the screen onto which we cast our hopes and fears?" Drawing on materials from different cultures and epochs, he walks readers down a moonlit path illuminated by more than seventy-five vintage photographs and illustrations. From scientific discussions of the moon's origins and its chronobiological effects on the mating and feeding habits of animals to an illuminating interpretation of Bishop Francis Godwin's 1638 novel The Man in the Moone, his interdisciplinary explorations recast a familiar object in an original light.


Moon and the Western Imagination

Moon and the Western Imagination

Author: Scott L. Montgomery

Publisher:

Published: 2008-11

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 9781437963700

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The Moon has presented a variety of faces to philosophers, writers, artists, and scientists for nearly three millennia. Scott Montgomery has drawn on a wide array of sources that illustrate mankind¿s changing concept of this heavenly body -- from classical antiquity to the dawn of modern science. Publishers Weekly says: ¿Montgomery stitches a story of religious allegory, scientific inquiry, and artistic insight . . . Beneath the easy-reading style lies a work of substance that is a narrow but penetrating contribution to cultural history.¿ Choice says: ¿A work of painstaking scholarship . . . . It is fascinating to see how each era viewed the moon in terms of the religious and philosophical climate of the period.¿ Over 100 illustrations.


Out of the Blue

Out of the Blue

Author: John Naylor

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2002-09-26

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9780521809252

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A 24-hour practical guide to skywatching.


Shamans

Shamans

Author: Ronald Hutton

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2007-06-01

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 082644637X

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With their ability to enter trances, to change into the bodies of other creatures, and to fly through the northern skies, shamans are the subject of both popular and scholarly fascination. In Shamans: Siberian Spirituality and the Western Imagination Ronald Hutton looks at what is really known about both the shamans of Siberia and about others spread throughout the world. He traces the growth of knowledge of shamans in Imperial and Stalinist Russia, descibes local variations and different types of shamanism, and explores more recent western influences on its history and modern practice. This is a challenging book by one of the world's leading authorities on Paganism.


Caspar David Friedrich

Caspar David Friedrich

Author: Sabine Rewald

Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 58

ISBN-13: 1588390047

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Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), a major figure in the German Romantic movement, painted sublime works representing nature at its most melancholic and desolate. One of his most famous motifs was that of two intimate figures, seen from behind, gazing at the moon. Friedrich painted three versions of this theme, one of which -- Two Men Contemplating the Moon -- has recently been acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The book discusses the Metropolitan's painting in conjunction with the other two versions and a number of related paintings and drawings by Friedrich and his Dresden friends. It also presents fascinating details about the moon itself -- including what was known about it in Friedrich's lifetime and its presence and symbolism in contemporary Romantic poetry.


Shakespeare and the Middle Ages

Shakespeare and the Middle Ages

Author: Martha W. Driver

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 0786491655

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Every generation reinvents Shakespeare for its own needs, imagining through its particular choices and emphases the Shakespeare that it values. The man himself was deeply involved in his own kind of historical reimagining. This collection of essays examines the playwright's medieval sources and inspiration, and how they shaped his works. With a foreword by Michael Almereyda (director of the Hamlet starring Ethan Hawke) and dramaturge Dakin Matthews, these thirteen essays analyze the ways in which our modern understanding of medieval life has been influenced by our appreciation of Shakespeare's plays.