Studies on Philosophy, Intellectual History, Arts, Sciences
Sacrifice and Sacred Violence
History, Comparisons, and the Early Modern World
Sacrifice has long been a central topic in scholarly debate. Since the publication of Marcel Mauss and Henri Hubert's groundbreaking work in 1898-99 the concept has gained prominence as a distinct theme in comparative religion anthropology and the history of religions. Throughout the twentieth century many distinguished scholars and intellectuals examined the meaning and function of sacrifice to better understand various aspects of human cognition and social interactions. While some explored its connections to violence—particularly forms of self-inflicted violence such as martyrdom—others sought to disentangle the concept from violent practices altogether.
Building on this rich tradition this collection of articles gathers contributions from leading scholars who explore the theme of sacrifice examining its diverse meanings and roles across various religious traditions. While the book places particular emphasis on the history of Christianity and the early modern period it also provides valuable insights into a broad spectrum of religious traditions including Judaism Islam Greek and ancient religions as well as Japanese religions. Its geographical scope spans regions such as India China Africa and Brazil offering a truly global perspective.By mapping the varied interpretations and transformations of sacrifice in the early modern period this book seeks to illuminate its evolving significance. It also strives to offer a comparative framework that highlights the concept's complexity and adaptability across cultural and historical contexts.
Metamorphoses
Tracing the Translator in the Long Eighteenth Century, 1660–1830
Translators are crucial to the constitution dissemination and adaptation of literatures cultures and ideas. However their presence in the historical record often proves difficult to recognise or retrace. This volume places front and centre this key problem for historians of translation as well as for historians of literature culture and ideas. It sheds new light on the much-debated (in)visibility of historical translators by investigating in what contexts and through what strategies translators sought to render themselves either (in)visible and how critics and scholars can now trace these efforts. When and how does the visible metamorphose into the invisible and vice versa?
The volume focuses on the long eighteenth century a period which witnesses a metamorphosis in literature and culture that tells powerfully on translators. From relatively visible cultural actors they are reduced to enforced invisibility as cultural products stabilised their meanings around singular authors. Tracing this shift across a swathe of products and practices the book conducts its investigations across a range of genres ranging from radical politics over philosophy to opera; taking in languages and cultures across Western Europe.
Chapters employ case studies to develop methodological and theoretical models that will empower scholars of translation history to recover translators both from the direct evidence of their work and from the networks and tools that supported them.
Migrations of Concepts
From Philosophical Text to Scene
Migrations of Concepts brings together the results of an experimental research on the migration of philosophical concepts into the languages of the arts. The monograph explores the intersection of philosophy literature and art and presents a theoretical-performative investigation on the transposition of philosophical contents into theatrical and musical performance. Starting with Giambattista Vico and Samuel Beckett a first part elaborates the paradigm of the ‘Disbelonging’ of the I – which is the condition of the I who realizes that it is both its own and foreign at the same time – shows how this is transposed into the language of sounds and reflects on the significance of public performance of a philosophical work. The second and third parts further explore the transposition of philosophical thought into art by presenting the theatrical performances written and directed by the author. More specifically the book contains the text of two theatre readings on Vico and Gorgia and the libretto of two melologues dedicated to Hegel and the Prince of Sansevero with the corresponding scores of music composed by Rosalba Quindici. By exploring the boundaries of adaptation studies this monograph radically proposes a new and innovative way to study and communicate philosophical concepts.