A Cultural History of Animals in the Renaissance

by Boehrer, Bruce

• ISBN13: 9781847888198
• ISBN10: 1847888194
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-15
• Publisher: Berg Pub Ltd

Summary

Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2008 The Renaissance was an extraordinary period of change in the West, fuelled by changing cultural formations, shifting empires, the growth in exploration, and developments in science and technology. A Cultural History of Animals in the Renaissance presents a broad overview of the changing role of animals in the economy, culture and thinking of the period. Covering the period 1400 to 1600, the volume explores a wide range of topics: the symbolic role of birds in early modern writing; hunting rites and animal rights; the domestication of animals; the popularity of performing animals; the development of illustrated works of natural history; changing philosophical views of animal nature; and artistic practice in the visual representation of animals. As with all the volumes in the illustrated Cultural History of Animals, this volume presents an overview of the period and continues with essays on the position of animals in contemporary Symbolism, Hunting, Domestication, Sports and Entertainment, Science, Philosophy, and Art. Volume 3 in the Cultural History of Animals edited by Linda Kalof and Brigitte Resl

Author Biography

Bruce Boehrer is Bertram H. Davis Professor of English at Florida State University, and author of Parrot Culture: Our 2500-Year-Long Fascination with the World's Most Talkative Bird and Shakespeare Among the Animals: Nature and Society in the Drama of Early Modern England.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Animal Renaissance, Bruce Boehrer, Florida State University 1. A 'Foule Fowle': The Marginalised Cormorant in the Renaissance, Kevin De Ornellas, Queen's University, Belfast 2. Hunting Rites and Animals Rights in the Renaissance, Charles Bergman, Pacific Lutheran University 3. Domesticated Animals in Renaissance Europe, Peter Edwards, Roehampton University 4. Entertaining Animals 1558-1625, Teresa Grant, University of Warwick 5. The Relation Between Discourse and Illustrations in Natural History Treatises of the Mid-Sixteenth Century, Philippe Glardon, Institut Universitaire d'Histoire de la Medecine at Lausanne 6. Philosophers and Animals in the Renaissance, Stefano Perfetti, University of Pisa 7. Meticulous Depiction: Animals in Art, 1400-1600, Victoria Dickenson, McCord Museum, McGill University Notes Bibliography Index