INTERMÉDIAIRES CULTURELS. SÉMINAIRE INTERNATIONAL DES JEUNES DIX-HUITIÉMISTES (2010 : BELFAST)

Recent studies on mobility and exchange in the eighteenth century have mapped out a more accurate and interconnected geography of the Enlightenment. Yet, particular histories of cultural transmission rarely conform to our ideal of a free, unimpeded circulation of ideas. The thirteen essays collected in this volume restore our appreciation for the difficulty of intercultural transactions through a focus on cultural intermediaries. Reflecting the work of historians, literary scholars, and art historians, and using critical frameworks inspired by cultural theory, sociology, anthropology and postcolonial studies, the essays examine the material and textual practices that facilitated or regulated intercultural exchanges. They look at the nature of intellectual exchange, but also focus on the concrete mechanics of encounters in the form of physical, geographical and material interactions among individuals, objects, and texts. Through its various studies of travellers, diplomats, men and women of letters, missionaries, and merchants, this volume offers a wideranging reflection on questions of agency and materiality as they intersect with specific histories of the transmission of ideas.

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