The Story of O: Prostitutes and Other Good-for-nothings in the Renaissance (Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature) - Hardcover
Synopsis
This work unfolds the idea of “nothing” out of a Titian painting of Danaë and the shower of gold. Michele Jaffe’s philological and pictorial argument links, across several languages, such seemingly disparate concepts as money, coins, mothers (through the mint’s matrix), subjects, courtiers, prostitutes (through etymologies that join minting, standing-under, standing-for), ciphers, codes, and the codex form.
This ambitious book is a cultural history of the “cipher” zero as code and as nothing, as the absence of value and the place-holder constructing value. It traces the wide-ranging implications of “nothing”―not only in mathematics but also in literature. Along the way, it makes important points about the orthography and editing of early modern texts, and about the material affinities of these texts with painting and minting.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Michele Jaffe is the author of the novel The Stargazer and other fiction for adults and young adults.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Search results for The Story of O: Prostitutes and Other Good-for-nothings...
Stock Image
The Story of O: Prostitutes and Other Good-For-Nothings in the Renaissance
Published by
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1999
ISBN 10: 0674839501
ISBN 13: 9780674839502
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Walther's Books, Hopkins, MN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 1 out of 5 stars
Cloth. Condition: Fine Condition. Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket - as Issued. First Edition. Bound in cloth with the spine lettered in gilt. Seller Inventory # 001214