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  • Il dono dell’airone
  • Edited by Luca Capponcelli, Diego Cucinelli, Chiara Ghidini, Matilde Mastrangelo, Rolando Minuti
Book Chapter

Rappresentazioni del «carattere» dei Giapponesi nella cultura francese settecentesca

  • Rolando Minuti

The character of nations was a prominent topic in 18th century intellectual debate, searching for criteria that could explain the great diversity of customs, institutions, religions and cultures of the world's peoples. Within the framework of the opposition between Europe and Asia – newly theorised by Montesquieu -, Japan constitutes a particularly interesting case, since a traditional representation that emphasised the radical otherness of the Japanese character was flanked by others that instead highlighted similarities and analogies, opening up suggestive comparative perspectives. The essay highlights some moments of this debate, by focusing on a few examples from the French culture of the Age of Enlightenment.

  • Keywords:
  • Japan,
  • France,
  • 18th Century,
  • Intellectual History,
  • Character of Nations,
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Rolando Minuti

University of Florence, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0003-0227-7815

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  2. Borst, Arno. 1957-63. Der Turmbau von Babel. Geschichte der Meinungen über Ursprung und Vielfalt der Sprachen und Völker. 6 voll. Stuttgart: Hiersemann.
  3. Castilhon, Jean-Louis. 1769. Considérations sur les causes physiques et morales de la diversité du génie, des moeurs et du gouvernement des nations. 3 tomes. Bouillon: Aux dépens de la Société Typographique.
  4. Charlevoix, Pierre François Xavier de. 1715. Histoire de l’établissement, des progrès et de la décadence du christianisme dans l’Empire du Japon. 2 tomes. Rouen: Chez Pierre le Boucher.
  5. Charlevoix, Pierre-François-Xavier de. 1736. Histoire et Description Generale du Japon, etc. 2 tomes. Paris: Chez Julien-Michel Gandouin.
  6. D’Auria, Matthew. 2020. The Shaping of National Identity. Narrating the French Nation’s Past, 1715-1830. Cambridge University Press.
  7. Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonnée des sciences, des arts et des métiers. 1751. t. II. Paris : chez Briasson, David, Le Breton, Durand.
  8. Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonnée des sciences, des arts et des métiers. 1765. t. XI. Neufchastel: chez Samuel Faulche.
  9. Espiard de la Borde, François-Ignace d’. 1743. 3 tomes. Essais sur le génie et le caractère des nations. Divisés en six livres. Bruxelles : Chez Frederic Leonard.
  10. Espiard de la Borde, François-Ignace d’. 1752. L’esprit des nations. 2 tomes. A La Haye: Chez Isaac Beauregard, Pierre Gosse, Nicolas van Daalen.
  11. Fróis, Luís. 1993. Traité de Luís Fróis, S.J. (1585) sur les contradictions de moeurs entre Européens et Japonais, traduit par Xavier de Castro et Robert Schrimpf et persenté par José Manuel Garcia [traduzione dell’edizione critica del Tratado di Josef F. Schütte S.J, Tokyo, Sophia University, 1955]
  12. Grell, Chantal et Christian Michel. 1989. Primitivisme et mythes des origines dans la France des Lumières: 1680 – 1820. Colloque tenue en Sorbonne les 24 et 25 mai 1988. Presses de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne.
  13. Kaempfer, Engelbert. 1729. Histoire naturelle, civile, et ecclesiastique de l‘Empire du Japon, etc. 2 tomes. A La Haye: chez P. Gosse et J. Neaulme.
  14. Kapitza, Peter. 2001. Engelbert Kaempfer un die Europaische Aufklärung. Dem Andenken des Lemgoer Reisenden aus Anlaß seines 350. Geburtstags am 16. September 2001. Monaco di Baviera: Iudicium.
  15. Kowner, Rotem. 2014. From White to Yellow. The Japanese in European Racial Thought, 1300-1735. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
  16. Lozerand, Emmanuel. 2020. “Japan as the absolute other.” in Angelica Epple, Waler Erhart, Johannes Grave, eds., Practices of comparing. Towards a new understanding of a fundamental Human Practice, 229-56. Bielefeld University Press.
  17. Mazza, Emilio e Michela Nacci. 2021. Paese che vai. I caratteri nazionali fra teoria e senso comune. Venezia: Marsilio.
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  • Publication Year: 2024
  • Pages: 331-343
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2024 Author(s)

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  • Publication Year: 2024
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2024 Author(s)

Chapter Information

Chapter Title

Rappresentazioni del «carattere» dei Giapponesi nella cultura francese settecentesca

Authors

Rolando Minuti

Language

Italian

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0422-4.32

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2024

Copyright Information

© 2024 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

Book Title

Il dono dell’airone

Book Subtitle

Scritti in onore di Ikuko Sagiyama

Editors

Luca Capponcelli, Diego Cucinelli, Chiara Ghidini, Matilde Mastrangelo, Rolando Minuti

Peer Reviewed

Number of Pages

390

Publication Year

2024

Copyright Information

© 2024 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Publisher Name

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0422-4

ISBN Print

979-12-215-0421-7

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-0422-4

Series Title

Connessioni. Studies in Transcultural History

Series ISSN

2975-0393

Series E-ISSN

2975-0261

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