Compassion's Edge: Fellow-Feeling and Its Limits in Early Modern France (Haney Foundation Series)

__Compassion's Edge__examines the language of fellow-feeling--pity, compassion, and charitable care--that flourished in France in the period from the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which established some degree of religious toleration, to the official breakdown of that toleration with the Revocation of the Edict in 1685. This is not, however, a story about compassion overcoming difference but one of compassion reinforcing division: the seventeenth-century texts of fellow-feeling led not to communal concerns but to paralysis, misreading, and isolation. Early modern fellow-feeling drew distinctions, policed its borders, and far from reaching out to others, kept the other at arm's length. It became a central feature in the debates about the place of religious minorities after the Wars of Religion, and according to Katherine Ibbett, continues to shape the way we think about difference today.__Compassion's Edge__ranges widely over genres, contexts, and geographies. Ibbett reads epic poetry, novels, moral treatises, dramatic theory, and theological disputes. She takes up major figures such as D'Aubigne, Montaigne, Lafayette, Corneille, and Racine, as well as less familiar Jesuit theologians, Huguenot ministers, and nuns from a Montreal hospital. Although firmly rooted in early modern studies, she reflects on the ways in which the language of compassion figures in contemporary conversations about national and religious communities. Investigating the affective undertow of religious toleration,__Compassion's Edge__provides a robust corrective to today's hope that fellow-feeling draws us inexorably and usefully together.

Compassion's Edge examines the language offellow-feeling-pity, compassion, and charitable care-thatflourished in France in the period from the Edict of Nantes in1598, which established some degree of religious toleration, to theofficial breakdown of that toleration with the Revocation of theEdict in 1685. This is not, however, a story about compassionovercoming difference but one of compassion reinforcing division:the seventeenth-century texts of fellow-feeling led not to communalconcerns but to paralysis, misreading, and isolation. Early modernfellow-feeling drew distinctions, policed its borders, and far fromreaching out to others, kept the other at arm's length. It became acentral feature in the debates about the place of religiousminorities after the Wars of Religion, and according to KatherineIbbett, continues to shape the way we think about differencetoday.

Compassion's Edge ranges widely over genres, contexts,and geographies. Ibbett reads epic poetry, novels, moral treatises,dramatic theory, and theological disputes. She takes up majorfigures such as D'Aubigné, Montaigne, Lafayette, Corneille, andRacine, as well as less familiar Jesuit theologians, Huguenotministers, and nuns from a Montreal hospital. Although firmlyrooted in early modern studies, she reflects on the ways in whichthe language of compassion figures in contemporary conversationsabout national and religious communities. Investigating theaffective undertow of religious toleration, Compassion'sEdge provides a robust corrective to today's hope thatfellow-feeling draws us inexorably and usefully together.

Compassion's Edge examines the language of fellow-feeling--pity, compassion, and charitable care--that flourished in France in the period from the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which established some degree of religious toleration, to the official breakdown of that toleration with the Revocation of the Edict in 1685. This is not, however, a story about compassion overcoming difference but one of compassion reinforcing division: the seventeenth-century texts of fellow-feeling led not to communal concerns but to paralysis, misreading, and isolation. Early modern fellow-feeling drew distinctions, policed its borders, and far from reaching out to others, kept the other at arm's length. It became a central feature in the debates about the place of religious minorities after the Wars of Religion, and according to Katherine Ibbett, continues to shape the way we think about difference today. Compassion's Edge ranges widely over genres, contexts, and geographies. Ibbett reads epic poetry, novels, moral treatises, dramatic theory, and theological disputes. She takes up major figures such as D'Aubigne, Montaigne, Lafayette, Corneille, and Racine, as well as less familiar Jesuit theologians, Huguenot ministers, and nuns from a Montreal hospital. Although firmly rooted in early modern studies, she reflects on the ways in which the language of compassion figures in contemporary conversations about national and religious communities. Investigating the affective undertow of religious toleration, Compassion's Edge provides a robust corrective to today's hope that fellow-feeling draws us inexorably and usefully together. Compassion's Edge examines the language of fellow-feeling—pity, compassion, and charitable care—that flourished in France in the period from the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which established some degree of religious toleration, to the official breakdown of that toleration with the Revocation of the Edict in 1685. This is not, however, a story about compassion overcoming difference but one of compassion reinforcing division: the seventeenth-century texts of fellow-feeling led not to communal concerns but to paralysis, misreading, and isolation. Early modern fellow-feeling drew distinctions, policed its borders, and far from reaching out to others, kept the other at arm's length. It became a central feature in the debates about the place of religious minorities after the Wars of Religion, and according to Katherine Ibbett, continues to shape the way we think about difference today.Compassion's Edge ranges widely over genres, contexts, and geographies. Ibbett reads epic poetry, novels, moral treatises, dramatic theory, and theological disputes. She takes up major figures such as D'Aubigné, Montaigne, Lafayette, Corneille, and Racine, as well as less familiar Jesuit theologians, Huguenot ministers, and nuns from a Montreal hospital. Although firmly rooted in early modern studies, she reflects on the ways in which the language of compassion figures in contemporary conversations about national and religious communities. Investigating the affective undertow of religious toleration, Compassion's Edge provides a robust corrective to today's hope that fellow-feeling draws us inexorably and usefully together. Compassion's Edge examines the language of fellow-feeling -pity, compassion, and charitable care - that flourished in France in the period from the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which established some degree of religious toleration, to the official breakdown of that toleration with the Revocation of the Edict in 1685. This is not, however, a story about compassion overcoming difference but one of compassion reinforcing division: the seventeenth-century texts of fellow-feeling led not to communal concerns but to paralysis, misreading, and isolation. Early modern fellow-feeling drew distinctions, policed its borders, and far from reaching out to others, kept the other at arm's length. It became a central feature in the debates about the place of religious minorities after the Wars of Religion, and according to Katherine Ibbett, continues to shape the way we think about difference today.-- Provided by publisher 1. Pitiful Sights : Reading The Wars Of Religion -- 2. The Compassion Machine : Theories Of Fellow-feeling, 1570-1692 -- 3. Caritas, Compassion, And Religious Difference -- 4. Pitiful States : Marital Miscompassion And The Historical Novel -- 5. Affective Absolutism And The Problem Of Religious Difference -- 6. Compassionate Labor In Seventeenth-century Montreal. Katherine Ibbett. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.