Representing Emotions

Representing Emotions juxtaposes artistic and musical representations of emotions with medical, philosophical and scientific texts in Western culture between the Renaissance and the twentieth century. Representing Emotions also explores the ways in which emotions have been variously conceived, configured, represented and harnessed in relation to broader discourses of control, excess and refinement. The essays explore the interstices between disciplines (e.g. music and medicine, history of art and philosophy), disrupt established frameworks within the histories of art, music and medicine and challenge traditional narrative accounts. Larger historical forces come into perspective, as chapters suggest how both artistic and scientific representations of the emotions have been implemented in political, social and religious struggles, at a variety of different levels.