Classicism

Summary

Dominique Pagani places the high point of classicism under Louis XIV. He characterizes it by order, symmetry, harmony and stability, and sees in it a moment when problems settled on the outside become internalized. If only one word were to be kept, for him it would be unity: it is found in façades, in the rule of the three unities and in characters reduced to a single trait. When he asks whether one should speak of nature or of landscape, he describes classical nature as diurnal, ordered and idealized: everything has its place in it and the human figure occupies its centre1. He links this ideal of balance to the Greek aurea mediocritas, which he understands as a perilous balance, located at the top of a parabola, and which he distinguishes from political centrism2. Finally, since classicism precedes the Revolution, he calls it conservative rather than reactionary3.

1. 1#5.4 Introduction: nature or landscape?25 Jan 2019 · 6:35
2. 2#2 Harnessed to confinitude30 Mar 2020 · 15:41
3. 3#2 Harnessed to confinitude30 Mar 2020 · 58:44

Summary produced automatically from 5 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.