{"product_id":"secular-assemblages-marek-sullivan-9781350272361","title":"Secular Assemblages: Affect, Orientalism and Power in the French Enlightenment","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this book, Marek Sullivan challenges a widespread consensus linking secularization to rationalization, and argues for a more sensual genealogy of secularity connected to affect, race and power. While existing works of secular intellectual history, especially Charles Taylor's \u003ci\u003eA Secular Age \u003c\/i\u003e(2007), tend to rely on rationalistic conceptions of Enlightenment thought, Sullivan offers an alternative perspective on key thinkers such as Descartes, Montesquieu and Diderot, asserting that these figures sought to reinstate emotion against the rationalistic tendencies of the past. From Descartes's last work \u003ci\u003eLes Passions de l'Âme \u003c\/i\u003e(1649) to Baron d'Holbach's \u003ci\u003eSystem of Nature \u003c\/i\u003e(1770), the French Enlightenment demonstrated an acute understanding of the limits of reason, with crucial implications for our current 'postsecular' and 'postliberal' moment. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Sullivan also emphasizes the importance of Western constructions of Oriental religions for the history of the secular, identifying a distinctively secular-yet impassioned-form of Orientalism that emerged in the 18th century. Mahomet's racial profile in Voltaire's \u003ci\u003eLe Fanatisme, ou Mahomet \u003c\/i\u003e(1741), for example, functioned as a polemic device calibrated for emotional impact, in line with Enlightenment efforts to generate an affective body of anti-Catholic propaganda that simultaneously shored up people's sense of national belonging. By exposing the Enlightenment as a nationalistic and affective movement that resorted to racist, Orientalist and emotional tropes from the outset, Sullivan ultimately undermines modern nationalist appeals to the Enlightenment as a mark of European distinction.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Marek Sullivan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1350272361\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781350272361\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Bloomsbury Academic\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/27\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 264\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.81lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.54d","brand":"Marek Sullivan","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48444558672127,"sku":"9781350272361","price":42.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_8f335f20-5e0b-4514-91c2-7a8bc1607397.jpg?v=1777213073","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/secular-assemblages-marek-sullivan-9781350272361","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}