Curiosity
A Cultural History of Early Modern Inquiry
9780226042640
Curiosity
A Cultural History of Early Modern Inquiry
In this striking social history, Barbara M. Benedict draws on the texts of the early modern period to discover the era’s attitudes toward curiosity, a trait we learn was often depicted as an unsavory form of transgression or cultural ambition.
296 pages | 20 halftones | 6 x 9 | © 2001
History: British and Irish History, History of Ideas
Literature and Literary Criticism: British and Irish Literature
Table of Contents
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION INSPECTING AND SPECTATING: MONSTERS,
RARITIES, AND INVESTIGATORS
CHAPTER ONE REGULATING CURIOSITY
The Discipline of Fraud
Curiosity as Second Sight
CHAPTER TWO CONSUMING CURIOSITY
Monstrous Modernity and Curious Art
The Curious Eye
CHAPTER THREE FROM THE CURIOUS TO THE CURIO
The Inquiry of Eve
Women as Closeted Curiosities
CHAPTER FOUR CONNOISSEURSHIP IN THE MENTAL CABINET
Curiosities of Artful Nature
Collecting Culture in the Printed Museum
CHAPTER FIVE PERFORMING CURIOSITY
The Curios Control of Nature
Curiosity as Social Reform
CONCLUSION TRANSGRESSION AND AMBITION
NOTES
INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION INSPECTING AND SPECTATING: MONSTERS,
RARITIES, AND INVESTIGATORS
CHAPTER ONE REGULATING CURIOSITY
The Discipline of Fraud
Curiosity as Second Sight
CHAPTER TWO CONSUMING CURIOSITY
Monstrous Modernity and Curious Art
The Curious Eye
CHAPTER THREE FROM THE CURIOUS TO THE CURIO
The Inquiry of Eve
Women as Closeted Curiosities
CHAPTER FOUR CONNOISSEURSHIP IN THE MENTAL CABINET
Curiosities of Artful Nature
Collecting Culture in the Printed Museum
CHAPTER FIVE PERFORMING CURIOSITY
The Curios Control of Nature
Curiosity as Social Reform
CONCLUSION TRANSGRESSION AND AMBITION
NOTES
INDEX
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