The age of curiosity : the neural network of an idea in eighteenth-century English literature

Challenging the ‘success story’ of curiosity from original sin to intellectual virtue, this study uses an innovative methodological approach to the history of ideas as a non-teleological neural network based on current research in information technology and neurophysiology. The network offers a dynamic alternative to the ‘development’ of curiosity within the progress-oriented mythology of the Enlightenment, emphasizing the oscillation and interaction of ideas within the processes of their construction, as well as exposing the power relations behind them. The text corpus focuses on enactments of curiosity in English literature of the 'Long' Eighteenth Century (c. 1680-1818), such as transgression of boundaries, breach of taboo, gendered curiosity, sensationalism, or academic endeavour, bringing together a variety of examples from all major genres. __The Age of Curiosity__ contributes to current debates on a post-Foucauldian renewal of Lovejoy’s history of ideas in Enlightenment studies, exploring both curiosity as an indispensable trait for the search of answers to the fundamental yet unresolved questions of ‘identity’ or ‘truth’, and its potential as __cura__, the care for others and the world. * ‘neo-history of ideas’ as a present-day alternative to Lovejoy * in-depth analysis of eighteenth-century texts from all major genres * successful application of metaphors from information science to illustrate cultural concepts Contents Scribal Abbreviations Tables and Illustrations Acknowledgements Preface: Networking the Age of Curiosity: Unmasking the Myth 1 Original Sin or Secret of Happiness? An Introduction to Curiosity 2 “The Thinking Animal”: Lovejoy’s History of Ideas 3 Methodology of the Study 4 Curiosity: Origins of the Debate 5 Curiosity Across Different Media 6 Agents of Curiosity and the ‘New Science’ 7 Secret Chambers, Hidden Chests, and the Mysterious Self: Objects of Curiosity in Romanticism 8 Conclusion: Legitimacy of Curiosity in the Eighteenth Century and Beyond Works Cited Dictionaries, Thesauri Index The Anglia Book Series (ANGB) offers a selection of high quality work on all areas and aspects of English philology. It publishes book-length studies and essay collections on English language and linguistics, on English and American literature and culture from the Middle Ages to the present, on the new English literatures, as well as on general and comparative literary studies, including aspects of cultural and literary theory.