Historical culture and political reform in the Italian Enlightenment
Marco Cavarzere
Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, 2020
ISBN: 9781789622034, 352 pages, £65.00
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During the eighteenth-century antiquarianism became a powerful instrument for fostering the political agenda of reformist monarchies and for shaping a modern public sphere. This book analyzes how Italian elites shared their opposite visions of political reforms through the instruments of historical erudition.
- An innovative perspective on the history of modern scholarship.
- The first comprehensive book on historical culture in eighteenth-century Italy.
- A highly creative use of sources, from historical geography to dramas.
- Presents a provocative and subtle argument that sheds new light on the history of antiquarian studies.
- The book not only is based on a range of primary texts and archives, but also offers an impressively wide and deep reading of recent scholarship on the Italian eighteenth century.
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Table of Contents
List of figures
Introduction
Concepts
Contents
I. Background
Chapter 1: A country under construction
Pushing Italy (and the world) aside
Nations and patrie
Languages of Italy
Chapter 2: The importance of being erudite
The Muratorian moment
Antiquarianism and political identities
Erudition and society
Chapter 3: Institutional settings
Public policies of communication
Aristocratic circles
Communication short circuits
II. Difficult transitions
Chapter 4: Naturalizing sovereignty: law and history
"The national king"
Conflicting kings
National laws
A century without Rome
Chapter 5: The land of Italian nations: space and history
Geography and politics
Chorographic debates
Antiquarian cartographies
Ritual geographies
Chapter 6: Historical representation: collective memory and history
Hard times for state historiography
New media: heroic genealogies
National history on stage
Conclusion: an unfinished transition
Bibliography
Index
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Marco Cavarzere PhD in history at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, teaches early modern history at the Goethe-University of Frankfurt am Main.
The Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series, previously known as SVEC (Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century), has published over 500 peer-reviewed scholarly volumes since 1955 as part of the Voltaire Foundation at the University of Oxford. International in focus, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment volumes cover wide-ranging aspects of the eighteenth century and the Enlightenment, from gender studies to political theory, and from economics to visual arts and music, and are published in English or French.