I like reading about the history of science so some of your examples really struck me as interesting.
and since I am not reading this academically but in order to learn something for fun, I am not unhappy with her turning the birth of the Scientific Revolution into a Grand Narrative. It is a much better one than the myth that Science grows whole and pure, based in Rationality alone, from the Deep Dark of the Middle Ages.
Well, I do like to read narratives about science. And yes, rationality was important in developing scientific method, but hardly sufficient.
It then goes further, and combines dynasty politics with intellectual history and scientific development. Heidelberg was, after all, once of the great centres of European learning.
Yeah, very interesting to see how science interacted with the world around it back then. It's very easy to not know since it's generally not taught in either history or science courses.
True. It is occasionally mentioned that chemistry springs out of earlier alchemy, but that is about it.
I freely admit that part of the reason why I love this book is that it is based in precisely the type of history-writing I adore. I don't want to read about farmers and fishermen. I want kings and queens, dynasty politics, religious intrigue, great thinkers and stories. There are limits to the stories you can tell about the farmers and fishermen. And, perhaps more importantly, it is all about the pleasure of recognition. Part of the appeal is the connection made between two parts of history which I have always approached separately.
I guess... it might be more entertaining to read those types of histories, but they give a myopic view of the time imo. The lives and accounts of the farmers and fishermen give a better picture of what things were like.
Of course it is, and if I were studying the period academically, I would not limit myself to the cool stuff. But work and toil and malnutrition and marrying young and dying early really isn't what I read for entertainment. The story of "real people" tends to devolve into statistics, and at that point there is little storytelling left.
European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... European history... I suppose that makes me a geek.
mmm, I like what you've done there.
At this point in time, European history is also American history.
It could be that her way of writing appeals to me so much because it is reminiscent of literary interpretation. In fact, much of it is literary interpretation. She traces references to Spenser (after grounding him in the Order of St. George), and this mix of literature and history not only triggers a number of my intellectual pleasure points, it paints a delicious swirl of colour around what is too often presented as a black and white, dreary story of Progress of Mind, bringing Kepler, Newton, Descartes and the like down to history from the rarefied heights of scientific development.
Hmm, perhaps an example would have been good. I'm not entirely sure what you mean.
Spenser wrote The Faery Queene. In the first book, the main knight is the Red Crosse Knight. This is a reference to St. George, and may also allude to the Order of the garter (with an image of St. George), which becomes important in the area around the Palatinate as King James bestows it on certain key figures. It may have begun the idea of an order.
Regarding the scientists, Kepler and Tycho Brahe were astronomers (at a point in time when it was fairly indistinguishable from astrology), and were very much involved with the Bohemian branch of the mysticism which is at the heart of the Rosicrucian manifestoes. Descartes went out searching for the Rosicrucian Order (or Brotherhood), had his famous revelation in their alleged heartland, and had to deal with the Rosicrucian scare (a variant of the witch scares) later on.
All the while tracing the development of the story of the Rosicrucian Order (or the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross) in its changing manifestations.
I really don't know anything about this order (as you might have guessed from my lack of European history knowledge).
This is not just European history. It is at the centre of the Freemason idea, and very much influences the United States.
I love it.
I might have to take a look at it in a library. I don't know much EU history (aside from science) so it might not be for me.
Don't confuse EU and Europe.
*MySmiley*
structured procrastinator
structured procrastinator
The Rosicrucian Enlightenment by Frances Yates
- 04/11/2010 03:22:41 PM
1793 Views
I too have long been fascinated by Rosicrucianism and all its constituents.
- 04/11/2010 07:23:13 PM
920 Views
Re: I too have long been fascinated by Rosicrucianism and all its constituents.
- 05/11/2010 01:05:47 PM
944 Views
Nice review
- 05/11/2010 09:42:27 PM
1331 Views
Re: Nice review
- 05/11/2010 09:56:52 PM
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