Synopses & Reviews
and#147;With this book Maleuvre does not so much intervene in contemporary debates in the humanities as challenges us to reconsider our investment in some of the existential questions that have long motivated humanistic inquiry. Whatever oneand#8217;s position with respect to the questions Maleuvre raises, the reader is sure to be wonderstruck, provoked, or stirred at some point along the way.and#8221;and#151;Paul A. Kottman, author of
Tragic Conditions in Shakespeare and
A Politics of the Sceneand#147;Maleuvreand#8217;s approach is innovative and intriguing. The questions raised in each chapter are absolutely critical to general discussions on the meaning and potentiality of the arts in cultural, political, and social history.and#8221;and#151;Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, Religious Art and Cultural History, Georgetown University
"Maleuvre has a poetic touch. He offers new and surprising insights on artists, thinkers, and writers we have either read or heard of often, but now are invited to view from a new perspective. This work challenges readers to new dimensions of creative thought."and#151;Clifford W. Edwards, author of Mystery of The Night Cafand#233;: Hidden Key to the Spirituality of Vincent Van Gogh
"Written by an academic but not just for other academics, The Horizon is a rollicking romp through four millennia of humanity's ever-continuing attempt to confrontand#151;through art, philosophy, literature and scienceand#151;death, the universe, and everything. Intellectual history on steroids, The Horizon, stalwartly grand in its sweep and studded with steely insights each cultural step of the way, aims to liberate the reader's mind from the confines of the here and now and enables it to be what it was always meant to be: truly human."and#151;Vijay Mascarenhas, Metro State College Denver
Review
“Subtle, well-researched, and philosophically generous.” Choice
Review
and#8220;Subtle, well-researched, and philosophically generous.and#8221;
Synopsis
What is a horizon? A line where land meets sky? The end of the world or the beginning of perception? In this brilliant, engaging, and stimulating history, Didier Maleuvre journeys to the outer reaches of human experience and explores philosophy, religion, and art to understand our struggle and fascination with limitsand#151;of life, knowledge, existence, and death. Maleuvre sweeps us through a vast cultural landscape, enabling us to experience each stopping place as the cusp of a limitless journey, whether he is discussing the works of Picasso, Gothic architecture, Beethoven, or General Relativity. If, as Aristotle said, philosophy begins in wonder, then this remarkable book shows us how wonderand#151;the urge to know beyond the conceivableand#151;is itself the engine of culture.
About the Author
Didier Maleuvre is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of The Religion of Reality: Inquiry into the Self, Art, and Transcendence and Museum Memories: History, Technology, Art.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One The Archaic Age
1. Permanence: Egypt, 2500 B.C.E.
2. Astonishment: Mesopotamia, circa 1900 B.C.E.
3. Enterprise: Aegean Sea, circa 725 B.C.E.
4. Tremor: Northern Kingdom of Israel, 500 B.C.E.
Part Two The Philosophical Age
5. Exile: The Desert of Moab, 450 B.C.E.
6. Synthesis: The Hellenic Archipelago, 500 B.C.E.
7. Closure: Athens, circa 400 B.C.E.
Part Three The Theological Age
8. Distance: Nicaea, 325 C.E.
9. Trembling: Hippo, 410
10. Space: The Northern Forest, 1100
11. Perspective: Mount Ventoux, April 1336
12. Ambivalence: Florence, 1503
Part Four The Scientific Age
13. Mortuus sum: Bordeaux, 1574
14. Nothing: Regensburg, May 8, 1654
15. Night: Neuberg, November 10, 1619
Part Five The Subjective Age
16. Formless: Kand#246;nigsberg, 1780
17. Severance: Wetzlar, November 1772
18. Blue Yonder: Tand#252;bingen, 1810
19. Eden: Upstate New York, September 22, 1827
Part Six The Mathematical Age
20. Flatness: Murnau, Bavaria, 1908
21. No Exit: Buenos Aires, April 1941
22. Here: Woodstock, NY, August 29, 1952
23. Nowhere: The Moon, July 21, 1969, 3:58 A.M. BST
Afterword
Notes
Bibliography
Index