The Dream of Absolutism: Louis XIV and the Logic of Modernity

Author/Contributor(s):	Bjornstad, Hall
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Date:	10/15/2021
Binding:	Paperback
Condition:	NEW

"How seriously should we take the notion of absolute monarchy during the reign of Louis XIV? Was its excessiveness-reinforced by outlandish artworks and buildings-mere propaganda or satire? Not at all, argues Hall Bj²rnstad in this meticulous work of political and cultural history. Bj²rnstad revisits the world of seventeenth-century France and the team of ministers, secretaries, artists, and writers surrounding Louis XIV to uncover the logic at work at the heart of the image-making of the Sun King. Bj²rnstad looks at some well-known artifacts-the monumental opulence of Versailles, for example, and Charles Le Brun's symbolic paintings depicting the grand exploits of the king, as well as at court histories and the king's secret Mâemoires-to argue that these seeming absurdities are driven by a deeper, internal logic: a dream of absolute power that defies modern standards of political rationality. Bj²rnstad cautions us not to approach categories such as "royal glory" and "royal exemplarity" anachronistically while also suggesting that they are part of a collective political imaginary that is still at work today"--