The Interdisciplinary Century: Tensions and Convergences in Eighteenth-Century Art, History and Literature

Abstract

List of illustrations Acknowledgements Julia V. Douthwaite and Mary Vidal, Introduction: the history and current polemics of interdisciplinary work I. Knowledge networks and 'undisciplined objects' Daniel Rosenberg, We have never been interdisciplinary: encyclopedism and etymology in the eighteenth century and since James D. Herbert, Looking at Louis XIV looking: the unity of the disciplines under an absolute monarch Isabelle Michel-Evrard, Les ressources interdisciplinaires de l'etude de l'illustration au dix-huitieme siecle Mimi Hellman, Object lessons: French decorative art as a model for interdisciplinarity II. Rescuing the trivial Mary Sheriff, Disciplinary problems in the history of art, or what to do with rococo queens Jennifer Milam, Play between disciplines: the problem of the ludic in rococo art and Enlightenment culture III. The politics of interdisciplinarity Joan B. Landes, Trespassing: notes from the boundaries Mark Ledbury, But is it art history? Some thoughts on disciplines, tensions and territories in studies of eighteenth-century art IV. Defamiliarising the familiar Gregory S. Brown, Beaumarchais, social experience and literary figures in eighteenth-century public life Amy S. Wyngaard, Literary texts or historical documents? Revisiting the debates on Retif de La Bretonne V. Literature and law Joan I. Schwarz, Evidence and analysis for interdisciplinary research in eighteenth-century law and literature Miriam L. Wallace, 'Doing' history, or what I learned from the 1794 London Treason Trials Lisa Jane Graham, Scandal: law, literature and morality in the early Enlightenment VI. Centres and margins, on past and future Laurent Loty, Pour l'indisciplinarite David Andress, Can culture really explain politics? Interdisciplinary historiography, enlightenment and revolution Joan DeJean, On becoming a historian... Summaries List of works cited Index