Transforming the Republic of Letters: Pierre-Daniel Huet and European Intellectual Life, 1650-1720
A multi-faceted study of intellectual transformation in early modern Europe as seen through the eyes of a leading French scholar and cleric, Pierre-Daniel Huet (1630-1721).

Early modern Europe's most extensive commonwealth — the Republic of Letters — could not be found on any map. This republic had patriotic citizens, but no army; it had its own language, but no frontiers. From its birth during theRenaissance, the Republic of Letters long remained a small and close-knit elite community, linked by international networks of correspondence, sharing an erudite neo-Latin culture. In the late seventeenth century, however, it confronted fundamental challenges that influenced its transition to the more public, inclusive, and vernacular discourse of the Enlightenment.

Transforming the Republic of Letters is a cultural and intellectual history that chronicles this transition to "modernity" from the perspective of the internationally renowned scholar Pierre-Daniel Huet (1630-1721). Under Shelford's direction, Huet guides us into the intensely social intellectual worldof salons, scientific academies, and literary academies, while his articulate critiques illumine a combative world of Cartesians versus anti-Cartesians, ancients versus moderns, Jesuits versus Jansenists, and salonnières versus humanist scholars. Transforming the Republic of Letters raises questions of critical importance in Huet's era, and our own, about defining, sharing, and controlling access to knowledge.

April G. Shelford is Assistant Professor in the History Department at American University, Washington, D.C.
1008031267
Transforming the Republic of Letters: Pierre-Daniel Huet and European Intellectual Life, 1650-1720
A multi-faceted study of intellectual transformation in early modern Europe as seen through the eyes of a leading French scholar and cleric, Pierre-Daniel Huet (1630-1721).

Early modern Europe's most extensive commonwealth — the Republic of Letters — could not be found on any map. This republic had patriotic citizens, but no army; it had its own language, but no frontiers. From its birth during theRenaissance, the Republic of Letters long remained a small and close-knit elite community, linked by international networks of correspondence, sharing an erudite neo-Latin culture. In the late seventeenth century, however, it confronted fundamental challenges that influenced its transition to the more public, inclusive, and vernacular discourse of the Enlightenment.

Transforming the Republic of Letters is a cultural and intellectual history that chronicles this transition to "modernity" from the perspective of the internationally renowned scholar Pierre-Daniel Huet (1630-1721). Under Shelford's direction, Huet guides us into the intensely social intellectual worldof salons, scientific academies, and literary academies, while his articulate critiques illumine a combative world of Cartesians versus anti-Cartesians, ancients versus moderns, Jesuits versus Jansenists, and salonnières versus humanist scholars. Transforming the Republic of Letters raises questions of critical importance in Huet's era, and our own, about defining, sharing, and controlling access to knowledge.

April G. Shelford is Assistant Professor in the History Department at American University, Washington, D.C.
110.0 In Stock
Transforming the Republic of Letters: Pierre-Daniel Huet and European Intellectual Life, 1650-1720

Transforming the Republic of Letters: Pierre-Daniel Huet and European Intellectual Life, 1650-1720

by April Shelford
Transforming the Republic of Letters: Pierre-Daniel Huet and European Intellectual Life, 1650-1720

Transforming the Republic of Letters: Pierre-Daniel Huet and European Intellectual Life, 1650-1720

by April Shelford

Hardcover

$110.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    In stock. Ships in 3-7 days. Typically arrives in 3 weeks.
  • PICK UP IN STORE

    Your local store may have stock of this item.

Related collections and offers


Overview

A multi-faceted study of intellectual transformation in early modern Europe as seen through the eyes of a leading French scholar and cleric, Pierre-Daniel Huet (1630-1721).

Early modern Europe's most extensive commonwealth — the Republic of Letters — could not be found on any map. This republic had patriotic citizens, but no army; it had its own language, but no frontiers. From its birth during theRenaissance, the Republic of Letters long remained a small and close-knit elite community, linked by international networks of correspondence, sharing an erudite neo-Latin culture. In the late seventeenth century, however, it confronted fundamental challenges that influenced its transition to the more public, inclusive, and vernacular discourse of the Enlightenment.

Transforming the Republic of Letters is a cultural and intellectual history that chronicles this transition to "modernity" from the perspective of the internationally renowned scholar Pierre-Daniel Huet (1630-1721). Under Shelford's direction, Huet guides us into the intensely social intellectual worldof salons, scientific academies, and literary academies, while his articulate critiques illumine a combative world of Cartesians versus anti-Cartesians, ancients versus moderns, Jesuits versus Jansenists, and salonnières versus humanist scholars. Transforming the Republic of Letters raises questions of critical importance in Huet's era, and our own, about defining, sharing, and controlling access to knowledge.

April G. Shelford is Assistant Professor in the History Department at American University, Washington, D.C.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781580462433
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer, Limited
Publication date: 08/03/2007
Series: ISSN , #7
Pages: 275
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

APRIL SHELFORD is assistant professor of history at American University

Table of Contents

The Road to Parnassus, 1648-61
The Lives of Poems, 1653-63
The Empire of Women, 1651-89
The Gate of Ivory, 1646-90
Defending Parnassus, 1666-92
From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews