Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment

by Michel Delon (Editor)

Overview

This acclaimed translation of Michel Delon's Dictionnaire Europen des Lumires contains more than 350 signed entries covering the art, economics, science, history, philosophy, and religion of the Enlightenment. Delon's team of more than 200 experts from around the world offers a unique perspective on the period, providing offering not only factual information but also critical opinions that give the reader a deeper level of understanding. An international team of translators, editors, and advisers, under the auspices of the French Ministry of Culture, has brought this collection of scholarship to the English-speaking world for the first time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781135960056
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/04/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	1512
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Michel Delon is a distinguished specialist of the Enlightenment. He is currently Professor at the University of Paris IV (Sorbonne) and is a regular contributor to the Magazine Littéraire and the RevueEurope. He is the author or editor of numerous titles in French.

Table of Contents

Preface to the French Edition, Preface to the English Edition, Note on Usage and Style, Contributors, Translators, Translation Reviewers, Copy Editors, Acknowledgments, General Bibliography, List of Entries, Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment, A–L, Index

Editorial Reviews

This attractively designed and well-formatted encyclopedia is a translation of the 1997 Dictionnaire europ en des Lumi res, edited by the noted French cultural historian Delon. Delon observes that the term Enlightenment simultaneously denotes an intellectual movement, the period in which this movement came to the fore, the issues we have inherited from it, and a system of values that still stirs debate. In this two-volume set, an international (though primarily French) group of scholars explore concepts and subjects related to these various denotations. There are no separate biographies; instead, articles present an overview under several rubrics: country (e.g., Germany), cultural (e.g., astronomy, libraries, salons, coffeehouses), aesthetic (e.g., baroque, grotesque), anthropological (e.g., love, work, children, surgery), and descriptive (e.g., night, reverie, gas). The text emphasizes the Enlightenment on the Continent, reflecting current interests and trends in European research, and bibliographical references at the end of most articles emphasize European-language materials. The writing throughout is clear, the translations flow smoothly, and each essay can stand alone. A system of cross references provides further guidance, and a well-organized index leads to biographical and other embedded information. Written in the grand tradition of the five-volume Dictionary of the History of Ideas (LJ 11/1/73. o.p.), this encyclopedia is a major contribution to reference literature. Though it should be supplemented in libraries by other compendia such as the more fact-oriented and biographical one-volume Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (Facts On File, 1996), it will provide useful and thought-provoking material for students and researchers for years to come. For all academic and large public libraries. Barbara Walden, Univ. of Wisconsin Lib., Madison Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

"This encyclopedia brings an important perspective to the growing array of reference works on the Enlightenment." — Choice
"This attractively designed and well-formatted encyclopedia...is a major contribution to reference literature...it will provide useful and thought-provoking material for students and researchers for years to come." — Library Journal

From the Publisher