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Renaissance Beasts: Of Animals, Humans, and Other Wonderful Creatures
Contributor(s): Fudge, Erica (Editor), Fudge, Erica (Introduction by), Perry, Kathryn (Contribution by)

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 ISBN: 0252028805     ISBN-13: 9780252028809
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
OUR PRICE: $49.35  

Binding Type: Hardcover - See All Available Formats & Editions
Published: January 2004
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Annotation: Animals, as Levi-Strauss wrote, are good to think with. This collection addresses and reassesses the variety of ways in which animals were used and thought about in Renaissance culture, challenging contemporary as well as historical views of the boundaries and hierarchies humans presume the natural world to contain. Taking as its starting point the popularity of speaking animals in sixteenth-century literature and ending with the decline of the imperial Menagerie during the French Revolution, Renaissance Beasts uses the lens of human-animal relationships to view issues as diverse as human status and power, diet, civilization and political life, religion and anthropocentrism, entertainment, language, science, skepticism, and domestic and courtly cultures. Through analysis of texts by writers including Calvin, Montaigne, Sidney, Shakespeare, Descartes, Boyle, and Locke, Renaissance Beasts uncovers new and arresting interpretations of Renaissance culture and the broader social assumptions glimpsed through views on matters such as pet ownership and meat consumption.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Renaissance
- Literary Criticism | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
Dewey: 590.903
LCCN: 2003007986
Physical Information: 0.91" H x 6.3" W x 9.42" L (1.08 lbs) 256 pages
Themes:
- Cultural Region - British Isles
Features: Bibliography, Illustrated, Index
Review Citations: Choice 09/01/2004 pg. 147
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
Animals, as L vi-Strauss wrote, are good to think with. This collection addresses and reassesses the variety of ways in which animals were used and thought about in Renaissance culture, challenging contemporary as well as historic views of the boundaries and hierarchies humans presume the natural world to contain.

Taking as its starting point the popularity of speaking animals in sixteenth-century literature and ending with the decline of the imperial M nagerie during the French Revolution, Renaissance Beasts uses the lens of human-animal relationships to view issues as diverse as human status and power, diet, civilization and the political life, religion and anthropocentrism, spectacle and entertainment, language, science and skepticism, and domestic and courtly cultures.

Within these pages scholars from a variety of disciplines discuss numerous kinds of texts--literary, dramatic, philosophical, religious, political--by writers including Calvin, Montaigne, Sidney, Shakespeare, Descartes, Boyle, and Locke. Through analysis of these and other writers, Renaissance Beasts uncovers new and arresting interpretations of Renaissance culture and the broader social assumptions glimpsed through views on matters such as pet ownership and meat consumption.

Renaissance Beasts is certainly about animals, but of the many species discussed, it is ultimately humankind that comes under the greatest scrutiny.

 
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