Description
Book SynopsisDrawing from literary studies, philosophy, and the history of science, in this interdisciplinary study Hanna Roman argues that the language of Buffon’s
Histoire naturelle (1749-1788) could not be separated from the science it conveyed; the language communicated nature’s vital order, form and movement. In the
Histoire naturelle, the ability of language to embody and communicate the living essence of nature grew increasingly poignant as Buffon established his hypothesis that the Earth, initially a molten ball of fire, was dying as it slowly became colder.
The author highlights Buffon’s
Époques de la nature (1778) in which he implied that to save nature from cold death, people must learn to create actual heat according to the model provided by his lyrical, dynamic language, the energy of which would transform into re-warming a cooling globe.
In this way, Roman argues that Buffon’s literary simulacrum of nature taught his readers not only about the history of nature and its laws, but also how to interact with nature differently, transferring to them the skills necessary to modify the surrounding world in order to better fit the desires and dreams of humanity. A new world could be more than imagined—it could be engineered through language.
Trade Review'...this book is a valuable addition to the scholarship on the close links between literary and scientific knowledge in the Enlightenment.'
Elizabeth Wallmann,
French Studies'Proposing a book about the monumental and eclectic thirty-six volumes of the
Histoire naturelle requires from the offset a lot of courage, especially when the author proposes, in this ambitious interdisciplinary study [...] to revisit the whole series. [...] Hanna Roman masterfully builds on recent top scholars' achievements [...] The style is clear, [including] the flawless translations from French to English. [...] This book, anchored by deep and sound sources, will be considered as another foundation stone for the Buffonian critics as it iconically demonstrates the fundamental connection between written language and knowledge.'
Swann Paradis,
Isis'An accomplished original tribute to Buffon’s geniuses: scientific and literary.'
Swann Paradis,
Isis: A Journal of the History of Science SocietyTable of ContentsPreface
Introduction: Enlightenment natural history and literary inventionStyle: combining rhetoric and knowledge
Harmonizing world and word
Natural history: between physics and history
The literary practice of natural history
Summary of chapters
1. Inventing natural language: the harmonization of mind and world Mathematical rules and natural laws
Buffon and natural law: relativizing perception
Inventing and intervening: Montesquieu and the natural laws of history
Scaling the levels of perception: the evolving relationship with nature in the
Histoire naturelle
2. Generating heat: the energy of natural language Introducing heat:
De l’art d’écrire Heat: the material interface with nature
Between body and mind: the spirit of language
The energy of the natural historical text
3. Writing nature: the foundations of natural history The ‘Discours sur le style’: translating the movement of nature
The
mise-en-scène of style in the
Histoire naturelle, 1749
From style to history: reading temporality into nature’s story
4. Hypothesis and the energy of invention Hypothesis and the invention of a verisimilar world
Hypothesis and heat: inventing the hidden mechanism of nature
Making heat real: the hypothesis in the ‘Epoques de la nature’
5. Reinventing nature’s heat Buffon’s theorization of heat
The natural history of human beings: a story of inventing the temperate
Writing the future with heat
Conclusion: preserving the heat of the Histoire naturelle Rethinking Buffon’s intellectual legacy
Condorcet’s
Eloge de M. de Buffon Saving style for posterity
The literary experiment
Bibliography
Index
