The Mirror

by Melchoir-Bonnet,Sabine

• ISBN13: 9780415924481
• ISBN10: 0415924480
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2002-02-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This engaging and witty cultural history traces the evolution of the mirror from antiquity to the present day, illustrating its journey from wondrous object to ordinary trinket. With its earliest invention, the mirror allowed us to gaze upon ourselves, bestowing a power both fascinating and terrifying. Drawing on rich sources of history, literature, art and philosophy, Melchior-Bonnet recounts the story of intrigue. Through the works of such writers as Dante, St. Augustine, Flaubert, and Henry James, and its representations in the works of artists like Durer, Van Eyck, Leonardo, and Magritte, the author reveals our enduring fascination with reflection, the image that is at once the same, and not the same, as ourselves.

Author Biography

Sabine Melchior-Bonnet is a researcher at the College de France in Paris. She has published numerous books and articles in France, including most recently a biography of Catherine de Bourbon, Duchess of Bar (1558-1604). The Mirror is her first book translated into English. The author lives in Paris

Table of Contents

Translator's Note	vii
Katharine H. Jewett
Preface	ix
Jean Delumeau
Introduction	1	(8)
Part One THE ORIGIN OF THE MIRROR
The Secret of Venice	9	(26)
The Royal Glass and Mirror Company	35	(35)
From Luxury to Necessity	70	(31)
Part Two THE MAGIC OF RESEMBLANCE
In the Semblance of God	101	(32)
The Triumph of Mimesis	133	(23)
Staring at the Self in Order to Imagine the Self	156	(31)
Part Three TROUBLING STRANGENESS
The Devil's Distorted Faces	187	(35)
Oblique Mirrors and Specular Trickery	222	(24)
Mirror Fragments	246	(24)
Conclusion	270	(5)
Notes	275	(25)
Index	300