A Cultural History of the Emotions in the Baroque and Enlightenment Age

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During the period of the Baroque and Enlightenment the word emotion, denoting passions and feelings, came into usage, albeit in an irregular fashion. Emotion ultimately emerged as a term in its own right, and evolved in English from meaning physical agitation to describe mental feeling. However, the older terminology of passions and affections continued as the dominant discourse structuring thinking about feeling and its wider religious, political, social, economic, and moral imperatives. The emotional cultures described in these essays enable some comparative discussion about the history of emotions, and particularly the causes and consequences of emotional change in the larger cultural contexts of the Baroque and Enlightenment. Emotions research has enabled a rethinking of dominant narratives of the periodof histories of revolution, state-building, the rise of the public sphere, religious and scientific transformation, and more. As a new and dynamic field, the essays here are just the beginning of a much bigger history of emotions.

Author Bio

Katie Barclay is Senior Research Fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions and Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Adelaide, Australia. She co-edits (with Andrew Lynch) the journal Emotions: History, Culture, Society. David Lemmings is Professor of History at the University of Adelaide, Australia, and Leader of the Change Programme of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions. He co-edits (with William Reddy) the series Palgrave Studies in the History of Emotions. Claire Walker is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Adelaide, Australia, and Deputy Director of the Adelaide node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions.