Literary and Linguistic Theories in Eighteenth-Century France

Linguistic' theories in the eighteenth-century are also theories of literature and art, and it is probably better, therefore, to think of them as 'aesthetic' theories. As such, they are answers to the age-old question 'what is beauty?', but formulated, also, to respond to contemporary concerns. Edward Nye considers a wide range of authors from these two perspectives and draws the following conclusions: etymology is a theory of poetry, dictionaries of synonymy, prosody and metaphor are theories of preciosity, and Sensualism is a theory of artistic representation. The background to these contentions is outlined in Chapter One, in which Edward Nye traces the rise of the term 'nuances' as an attempt by contemporary authors to understand representation in art as a rationalization of chaotic reality. The demise of these contentions at the end of the century is described in the last chapter, in which the dominant language theory of the day, idéologie, is shown to be antagonistic to the study of art and literature. Theories of language are no longer an answer to the question 'what is beauty?'

Literary and Linguistic Theories in Eighteenth-Century France features in the following genres: Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800, Philosophy of language, Historical and comparative linguistics, History of ideas

Literary and Linguistic Theories in Eighteenth-Century France is available in Hardback

Literary and Linguistic Theories in Eighteenth-Century France was written by Edward , University Lecturer in French, and Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford Nye and published by Clarendon Press an imprint of Oxford University Press

Literary and Linguistic Theories in Eighteenth-Century France has 240 pages

Yes it is part of Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs series