Rhetoric and Natural History - Buffon in Polemical and Literary Context

This book examines the rhetorical dimension of eighteenth-century natural history. It focuses on the French naturalist and literary stylist Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, author of the bestselling multi-volume Histoire naturelle (1749-1789). Natural history as Buffon and his contemporaries knew it remains a fascinating object of study for its breadth, its cultural openness, and its disorderly energy. Rhetoric here is understood as a set of techniques for attracting and persuading an audience. As a contribution both to literary studies and to the history of science, Rhetoric and natural history adds to our understanding of the intellectual culture of the French Enlightenment.

About the author

Jeff Loveland is a Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Utah Tech University. Much of his research concerns the history of encyclopedias, especially eighteenth-century European encyclopedias. His publications include The Early Britannica (1768-1803) (2009, co-edited with Frank A. Kafker) and The European Encyclopedia, from 1650 to the Twenty-First Century (2019).

Summary

This book examines the rhetorical dimension of eighteenth-century natural history. Natural history as Buffon and his contemporaries knew it remains a fascinating object of study for its breadth, its cultural openness, and its disorderly energy.

Product details

• Authors: Jeff Loveland
• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.03.2001
• EAN: 9780729407472
• ISBN: 978-0-7294-0747-2
• No. of pages: 225
• Weight: 450 g
• Illustrations: 1 Illustration
• Series: Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment; Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: antiquity to present day