Publisher Description

Figures of Chance I: Chance in Literature and the Arts (16th–21st Centuries) proposes a transhistorical analysis that will serve as a reference work on the evolution of literary and artistic representations of chance and contingency. Alongside its multidisciplinary companion volume (Figures of Chance II), it considers how the projective and predictive capacity of societies is shaped by representations and cultural models of a reality that is understood, to varying degrees, to be contingent, unpredictable, or chaotic. Giving special emphasis to the French context while also developing broad cross-cultural comparisons, this volume examines the dialogue between evolving conceptions and changing representations of chance, from Renaissance figures of Fortune to the data-driven world of the present. Written by recognized specialists of each of the periods studied, it identifies and historicizes the main fictional and factual modes of portraying, narrating, and comprehending chance in the West.

Author Biography

Anne Duprat, principal director of the international Collaborative Research Project ANR-ALEA (2020–2023), is the general editor of the work. Professor of comparative literature at the Université de Picardie-Jules Verne, Anne Duprat is the author of recognized works on the theory of fiction and on the relationships between literature, cultural anthropology, and intellectual history. A member of the Institut Universitaire de France, her publications include Vraisemblances. Poétique et théorie de la fiction (Droz, 2009), Fiction et cultures (ed. with Françoise Lavocat, 2010) and Histoires et savoirs. Anecdotes scientifiques et sérendipité aux XVIe et XVIIIe siècle (ed. with F. Aït-Touati, 2012).Fiona McIntosh-Varjabédian (Pr., U. Lille) is a specialist of literature of ideas (politics, historiography, science) in the 18th and 19th centuries.Anne-Gaëlle Weber (Pr., U. Artois) is a specialist of relationships between science and literature.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Between Us and Chaos: Three Figures of ChanceAnne DupratIntroductionFiona McIntosh-Varjabédian 1. 1340–1610: Figures of Fortune in the European Renaissance: Chance and ProvidenceEdited by Olivier GuerrierWith Florence Buttay, Nicolas Correard, Louise Dehondt, Marie-Luce Demonet, Alexandre Tarrête, Alicia Viaud, and Enrica Zanin 2. 1570–1700: Challenges to Fortune and the Emergence of ChanceEdited by Guiomar Hautcoeur-Pérez-Espejo, Zoé Schweitzer, Anne Teulade With Carole Boidin, Line Cottegnies, Camille Esmein-Sarrazin, Élisabeth Lacombe, Éric Marquer, Émilie Picherot, David Sedley, Laurent Susini, and Laurent Thirouin 3. 1670­­–1814: Playing With ChanceEdited by Caroline Jacot Grapa With Sylviane Albertan-Coppola, Michel Henry, Florence Magnot-Ogilvy, Bernard Sève, and Charles Wolfe 4. 1798–1895: The Demise of Chance? Determinism and its DiscontentsEdited by Danielle Follett, Martine Lavaud, Fiona McIntosh-Varjabédian, Anne-Gaëlle Weber 5. 1897–1990: Modern Figures of Chance: Accidents and ProceduresEdited by Alison James and Sébastien Wit With contributions by Julia Jordan, Isabelle Krzywkowski, Benoît Monginot, Jason Puskar, Christelle Reggiani, Sarah Troche and Christina Vogel 6. 1980 to the Present: Chance in the Age of DataEdited by Alexandre GefenWith Laurent Demanze, Magali Nachtergael, Alexandra Saemmer and Gaëlle Théval

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