Dream of Absolutism

Louis XIV and the Logic of Modernity

Inbunden, Engelska, 2021

Av Hall Bj?rnstad, Hall Bjørnstad

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What was absolutism, and how did it work? What was the function of the ostentatious display surrounding Louis XIV at Versailles? What is gained-and what is lost-by approaching such expressions of absolutism as propaganda, as present-day scholars tend to do? In this sweeping reconsideration of absolutist culture, Hall Bjornstad argues that the exuberance of Louis XIV's reign was not top-down propaganda in any modern sense, but rather a dream dreamt collectively, by king, court, image-makers, and nation alike. Bjornstad explores this dream through a sustained close analysis of a corpus of absolutist artifacts, ranging from Charles Le Brun's famous paintings in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles via the king's secret Memoires to two little-known particularly extravagant verbal and textual celebrations of the king. The dream of absolutism, Bjornstad concludes, lives at the intersection of politics and aesthetics. It is the carrier of a force that emerges as a glorious image; a participatory emotional reality that requires reality to conform to it. It is a dream, finally, that still shapes our collective political imaginary today.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2021-10-15
Mått152 x 229 x 19 mm
Vikt468 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor248
FörlagThe University of Chicago Press
ISBN9780226803661

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Litteraturvetenskap inom Skonlitteratur
Europas historia inom Historia och arkeologi

Hall Bjørnstad is associate professor of French at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he also directs the Renaissance Studies Program. He is the author of a monograph on Blaise Pascal, coeditor of Walter Benjamin’s Hypothetical French Trauerspiel and Universal History and the Making of the Global, and the editor of Borrowed Feathers: Plagiarism and the Limits of Imitation in Early Modern Europe.

List of IllustrationsA Note on Translations and SpellingPrefaceIntroduction1. The Problem with Absolutism2. Beyond Mere Propaganda3. Approaching Absolutism Differently: Royal Glory and Royal Exemplarity4. The Dream of AbsolutismChapter 1: The Grammar of Absolutism1. Introduction: The Dream of a Book Like No Other2. Taking Louis XIV’s Mémoires Seriously3. Absolutism, Explained to a Child: “The first and most important part of our entire politics”4. The Utility of “These Mémoires”5. The Paradoxes of Absolutist Exemplarity6. Conclusion: “So many ghastly examples”Chapter 2: Mirrors of Absolutism1. Introduction: Our Body in This Space2. An Age of Mirrors3. A Gallery Celebrating Greatness4. Making the King See What He Felt5. A Mirror for One6. In Lieu of Conclusion: Mirrors for a Future without a PastChapter 3: Absolutist AbsurditiesExhibit A: The Royal Historiographer and the Unparalleled Greatness of Louis XIVExhibit B: Absolutism from the Cabinet of Fairies to the Cabinet of the KingConclusion: Seven Theses on the Dream of AbsolutismAcknowledgmentsBibliographyIndex

“Eschewing the comfort of critical distance for the disarming rapture of intimacy, this book immerses us in the dream of absolutism. In this endlessly evocative tour of political theology at Versailles, Bjørnstad guides us through a virtual hall of mirrors composed of the texts, images, and environments that reflected and magnified the glory of Louis XIV. Practicing a form of reading backlit by the premodern virtues of dignity and decorum, Bjørnstad asks us to face the past in the originality of its most intense and disturbing commitments and he urges us to recognize our own captivation by a fantasy of power that remains with us today.”