{"product_id":"9780715634875","title":"Introduction to 16th-century French Literature and Thought Other Times, Other Places","description":"\u003ch3\u003eNew Readings\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch1\u003eIntroduction to 16th-century French Literature and Thought\u003c\/h1\u003e\u003ch2\u003eOther Times, Other Places\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003ch3\u003eNeil Kenny | Nicholas Hammond\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eForeign Language Study \/ French\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe age of Shakespeare, Cervantes, Erasmus, Luther, and Machiavelli produced in France too some of Europe's greatest ever literature and thought: Montaigne's \u003ci\u003eEssays\u003c\/i\u003e, Rabelais' comic fictions, Ronsard's poetry, Calvin's theology. These and numerous other extraordinary writings emerged from and contributed to cultural upheavals: the movement usually known as the Renaissance, which sought to revive ancient Greek and Roman culture for present-day purposes; religious reform, including the previously unthinkable rejection of Catholicism by many in the Reformation, culminating in decades of civil war in France; the French language's transformation into an instrument for advanced abstract thought. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book introduces this vibrant literature and thought via an apparent paradox. Most writers were profoundly concerned to improve life in the here-and-now - socially, politically, morally, spiritually. Yet they often tried to do so by making detours, in their writing, to other times and places: antiquity; heaven and hell; the hidden recesses of Nature, the cosmos, or the future; the remote location of an absent loved one; the newly 'discovered' Americas.The point was to show readers that the only way to live in the here-and-now was to connect it to larger realities - cosmic, spiritual, and historical.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eNeil Kenny\u003c\/b\u003e is Reader in Early Modern French Literature and Thought, University of Cambridge, UK. He is the author of several books, including most recently \u003ci\u003eThe Uses of Curiosity in Early Modern France and Germany \u003c\/i\u003e(2004).\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublication Date: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e13 March 2008\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eImprint: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBristol Classical Press\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eISBN-13: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e9780715634875\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFormat: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePaperback softback\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePage Count: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e160\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eWeight (oz): \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e8.16\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51515212562572,"sku":"9780715634875","price":32.36,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0710\/9545\/1788\/files\/getimage_5e4b3db5-0138-4ee6-823b-f0699b315c0d.jpg?v=1784689726","url":"https:\/\/fh90cf-fv.myshopify.com\/products\/9780715634875","provider":"Late Knight Books and Services, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}