The Aesthetics of Democracy Eighteenth-Century Literature and Politi
This book offers an original and interdisciplinary interpretation of the relation between aesthetics and modern liberal democracy, uniting the fields of art theory with the democratic political philosophy and modern liberal economic theory. The central ar
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Craig Carson
The Aesthetics of Democracy Eighteenth-Century Literature and Political Economy
Craig Carson Honors College Adelphi University Garden City, New York, USA
ISBN 978-3-319-33962-7 DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-33963-4
ISBN 978-3-319-33963-4 (eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017936994 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: Holmes Garden Photos / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
CONTENTS
1 Democracy and the War of Images: An Introduction
1
2 Biopolitics and the Image Obscured
35
3 The Divided People
55
4 The Image of Suffering
93
5 Only the Shape of Men
115
6 Infinite Accumulation
147
Bibliography
163
Author Index
167
Subject Index
169
v
CHAPTER 1
Democracy and the War of Images: An Introduction
The polemics raging during the birth of transatlantic political modernity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, specifically in Britain, America, and France, pivot on the political value of images. As this book will argue, the initial debates concerning modern liberal democracy were only secondarily a war of political ideas; they were, more significantly, a war of images. Liberal democracy, under the influence of what I call the “political iconoclasm” of Milton’s Eikonoklastes, Rousseau’s Letter to D’Alembert on Spectacles, and Paine’s Rights of Man, declares war on the aestheticized political world typifying monarchy in the age of Louis XIV or Charles I, in which van Dyke’s portraits, Racine’s plays, and Le Vau’s architectural work were themselves expressions of political power. Images disseminated through pai
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