The Alpine Enlightenment

Horace-Bndict de Saussure and Nature's Sensorium

By: Kathleen Kete

Write A Review

Paperback | 12 December 2024 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
272 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
2.29 x 1.52 x 0.18

Paperback

RRP $53.95

$45.75

15%OFF

or 4 interest-free payments of $11.44 with

Ships in 5 to 7 business days

A study of the experience of nature in the eighteenth century based on the life of Horace-B©n©dict de Saussure (1740<!â"StartFragment â">â"<!â"EndFragment â">99).

In The Alpine Enlightenment, historian Kathleen Kete takes us into the world of the Genevan geologist, physicist, inventor, and mountaineer Horace-B©n©dict de Saussure. During his prodigious climbs into the upper ranges of the Alps, Saussure focused intensely on the natural phenomena he encounteredâ"glaciers, crevasses, changes in the weather, and shifts in the color of the skyâ"and he described with great precision what he saw, heard, and touched. Kete uses Saussure's evocative writings, which emphasized above all physical engagement with the earth, to uncover not just how people during the Enlightenment thought about nature, but how they experienced it. As Kete shows, Saussure thought with and through his body: he harnessed his senses to understand the forces that shaped the world around him. In so doing, he offered a vision of nature as worthy of respect independent of human needs, anticipating present-day concerns about the environment and our shared place within it.

Industry Reviews

"The Alpine Enlightenment is at once a study of a major Swiss savant's hard-headed love affair with the Alps, a plea for the singularly respectful view of nature that he embodied, and a vivid evocation of the Swiss milieu from which he came. The author makes a powerful case for seeing Horace-Benedict de Saussure's view of nature as scrupulously empirical and based on tangible bodily experience, vividly explaining how his life in Geneva and in the mountains fashioned his understanding of the natural world." * John Brewer, California Institute of Technology *
"In this innovative and exciting environmental biography, Kete places Saussure in an expanding set of contexts from family and home, through the urban milieu of his native Geneva and the trans-European sociability of Enlightenment science, to the mountain on the horizon. The Alpine Enlightenment is a sensitive study that shows how Saussure's own alertness to his bodily, sensorial, emotional, and aesthetic relationship with the Alps led him to a new and personally engaged sense of humanity's relationship to nature." * Colin Jones, Queen Mary University of London *

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $79.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.