Idle Pursuits: Literature and Oisivete in the French Renaissance

by Virginia Krause

Idle Pursuits examines transformations of leisure in the literature and culture of early modern France. It traces a trajectory beginning with the initial detachment of the 'idle condition' from religious contemplation in the thirteenth century and culminating with the birth of the modern contemplative at the end of the Renaissance. How did writers define their idle pursuits? What made mastery of the 'art of idleness' such a valuable asset?...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 161149236X
• ISBN13: 9781611492361
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: University of Delaware Press
• Length: 200 Pages