Peter Sahlins is Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley.
Peter Sahlins examines the disruptive influence of the new
menagerie at Versailles, alongside other events... packed with
fascinating history about animals in the 17th century, particularly
their appearances in art.—Hyperallergic
Sahlins's account is a model of what can be accomplished by
cultural history... the virtue of Sahlin's account is that he shows
how culture, politics, and science can be permeated with animal
concerns.—New York Review of Books
Did Le Brun's drawings mean to dissolve a findamental division
between human and animal, to reveal how we are all united far more
closely than anthropocentric religion and sience woudl have us
believe? This is one of the many questions that preoccupates the
historian Peter Sahlin in 1668: The Year of the Animal in France.
As it happens, Le Brun's sketchwork turns out to be just one moment
in the monentous year in which everyone, it seemed, was looking at
the animal wtih new eyes.—Los Angeles Review of Books
Sahlins brilliantly analyses a chronology of events from 1661, when
Louis XIV started to personally assume leadership of the
government, to 1674 and the completion of the Royal Labyrinth in
the gardens of Versailles...—ESPACE Art actuel
Sensitive, intelligent, and well-informed readings of specific
cultural monuments and encounters. Each of Sahlins's case studies
provides insights and surprises, and each displays his ability to
see connections among apparently disparate phenomena.—Journal of
Modern History
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