The Interdisciplinary century

Judging by most contemporary accounts, the virtues of cross-disciplinary research, teaching and scholarship are above reproach. Conference organisers announce with pride that âlâinterdisciplinarité a porté ses fruitsâ; governments and universities sponsor ever-growing numbers of interdisciplinary research teams. Such activity is especially pertinent to eighteenth-century studies. The Republic of Letters inspired scholars, scientists, artists, and writers to engage in spirited, multilingual and long-term correspondence with colleagues throughout Europe. As many contributors to this timely and provocative volume argue, a certain kind of interdisciplinarity is required for any consideration of eighteenth-century topics. But what impact has this enthusiasm for interdisciplinarity had on our understanding of objects, monuments, texts, and events of the past? Born of an intense series of debates, this volume takes on current controversies with unflinching honesty. Contributors address questions of theory and practice. Does interdisciplinary investigation carry any meaningful challenge to the disciplines themselves, or are we merely trading one kind of evidence for another? What institutional constraints work against such research and teaching? Is interdisciplinarity a pressing preoccupation of scholars in France and the UK, as it is in the US? The introduction provides a critical history of interdisciplinarity and outlines the key tensions of university life as experienced by students and scholars in the US, the UK and France. Position papers provide state-of-the-field analyses â some invigorating or even utopian, others darkly brooding. Case studies present examples of contemporary work, showing what might happen when a literary scholar confronts a pornographerâs battles, when an art historian takes on an âundisciplinedâ objectâ or, perhaps most intriguing, when a practising attorney evaluates âlegalâ approaches to literature. List of illustrations Acknowledgements Julia V. Douthwaite and Mary Vidal, Introduction: the history and current polemics of interdisciplinary work I. Knowledge networks and âundisciplined objectsâ Daniel Rosenberg, We have never been interdisciplinary: encyclopedism and etymology in the eighteenth century and since James D. Herbert, Looking at Louis XIV looking: the unity of the disciplines under an absolute monarch Isabelle Michel-Evrard, Les ressources interdisciplinaires de lâétude de lâillustration au dix-huitième siècle Mimi Hellman, Object lessons: French decorative art as a model for interdisciplinarity II. Rescuing the trivial Mary Sheriff, Disciplinary problems in the history of art, or what to do with rococo queens Jennifer Milam, Play between disciplines: the problem of the ludic in rococo art and Enlightenment culture III. The politics of interdisciplinarity Joan B. Landes, Trespassing: notes from the boundaries Mark Ledbury, But is it art history? Some thoughts on disciplines, tensions and territories in studies of eighteenth-century art IV. Defamiliarising the familiar Gregory S. Brown, Beaumarchais, social experience and literary figures in eighteenth-century public life Amy S. Wyngaard, Literary texts or historical documents? Revisiting the debates on Rétif de La Bretonne V. Literature and law Joan I. Schwarz, Evidence and analysis for interdisciplinary research in eighteenth-century law and literature Miriam L. Wallace, âDoingâ history, or what I learned from the 1794 London Treason Trials Lisa Jane Graham, Scandal: law, literature and morality in the early Enlightenment VI. Centres and margins, on past and future Laurent Loty, Pour lâindisciplinarité David Andress, Can culture really explain politics? Interdisciplinary historiography, enlightenment and revolution Joan DeJean, On becoming a historian... Summaries List of works cited Index