Imaging Aristotle
Subtitle: verbal and visual representation in fourteenth-century France
By: Claire Richter Sherman.
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Berkeley
Language: eng
Number of pages: 419
Subjects: Oresme, Nicole, ca. 1320-1382; Aristotle -- Influence; Aristotle; French language -- To 1500 -- Style; Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval -- France; Illumination of books and manuscripts, French; Translating and interpreting -- France -- History -- To 1500; Greek language -- Translating into French -- History; Art and literature -- France -- History; France -- Civilization -- 1328-1600
Description: Nicole Oresme's translation of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, and Economics into French from Latin in the 1370s is the subject of Claire Sherman's stunningly illustrated book. Though both the text translations and their images have been studied separately, this is the first time they are published in their entirety and considered together. Intended for an audience of Charles V, his counselors, and high-ranking lay people, these manuscripts are significant for their linguistic and political implications, for moving Aristotle's work beyond clerical and university boundaries, and for reflecting the dynamics of monarchic control of French language and culture. Sherman shows the importance of Oresme's role as translator and book designer. She also explores the gender and class representations in the imagery, relating them not only to the views of Oresme and his audience but also to the contemporary secular culture.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 395-406) and index.