Edited by David Warren Sabean (NHC Fellow, 2008–09) and Malina Stefanovska The notion of ‘selfhood’ conjures up images of self-sufficiency, integrity, introspectiveness, and autonomy – characteristics typically associated with ‘modernity.’ The seventeenth century marks the crucial transition to a new form of ‘bourgeois’ selfhood, although the concept goes back to the pre-modern and early modern … Continued
By Martha Woodmansee (NHC Fellow, 1982–83) Analyzing the rise of art in the 18th century, this treatise demonstrates how painting, sculpture and literature were not regarded as valuable art forms before the emergence of a new bourgeois culture. The author reveals how Romantic poets and philosophers invented art as we know it today.
By Richard Newhauser (NHC Fellow, 1999–00) The history of avarice as the deadliest vice in western Europe has been said to begin in earnest only with the rise of capitalism or, earlier, the rise of a money economy. In this first full-length study of the early history of greed, Richard Newhauser shows that avaritia, the … Continued
By Townsend Ludington (NHC Fellow, 1985–86)
By Seiichi Suzuki (NHC Fellow, 2012–13) This book is a formal and functional study of the three distinct meters of Old Norse eddic poetry, fornyrðislag, málaháttr, and ljóðaháttr. It provides a systematic account of these archaic meters, both synchronic and diachronic, and from a comparative Germanic perspective; particularly concerned with Norse innovations in metrical practice, Suzuki explores how and why … Continued
By Denis Donoghue (Trustee; NHC Fellow, 1991–92; 1995–96; 1997–1998) This lucid and elegantly written book is a sustained conversation about the nature and importance of literary interpretation. Distinguished critic Denis Donoghue argues that we must read texts closely and imaginatively, as opposed to merely or mistakenly theorizing about them. He shows what serious reading entails … Continued
By Deborah McGrady (NHC Fellow, 2010–11)
By Steven Goldsmith (NHC Fellow, 1990–91) A fascinating study of the relation be- tween the textual and the historical in apocalyptic representation in texts as di- verse as Revelation, an array of eighteenth-century biblical commentary, Percy Shelley's "Popular Songs," Thomas Paine's Age of Reason, and Mary Shelley's The Last Man.
By Edward H. Friedman (NHC Fellow, 1998–99) Wit’s End is a loose adaptation of La dama boba (The Lady Simpleton), a comedy by the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. A contemporary of Shakespeare, Lope developed a dramatic model that became the reigning formula in Spain during the period now known as the Golden Age. Wit’s End, like La dama boba, … Continued
Edited by Erdağ Göknar (NHC Fellow, 2007–08; 2022–23) A Mind at Peace, originally published in 1949, is a magnum opus, a Turkish Ulysses and a lyrical homage to Istanbul. With an innate awareness of how dueling cultural mentalities can lead to the distress of divided selves, Tanpinar gauges this moment in history by masterfully portraying its register … Continued