Rhetoric and natural history

By Jeff Loveland

This book examines the rhetorical dimension of eighteenth-century natural history. It focuses on the French naturalist and literary stylist Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, author of the bestselling multi-volume Histoire naturelle (1749-1789). Natural history as Buffon and his contemporaries knew it remains a fascinating object of study for its breadth, its cultural openness, and its disorderly energy. Rhetoric here is understood as a set of techniques for attracting and persuading an audience. As a contribution both to literary studies and to the history of science, Rhetoric and natural history adds to our understanding of the intellectual culture of the French Enlightenment.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0729407470
• ISBN13: 9780729407472
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: Voltaire Foundation
• Length: 225 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.2"