The Horizon A History of Our Infinite Longing [Hardcover]

What is a horizon? A line where land meets sky? The end of the world or the beginning of perception? In this brilliant, engaging, and stimulating history, Didier Maleuvre journeys to the outer reaches of human experience and explores philosophy, religion, and art to understand our struggle and fascination with limitsof life, knowledge, existence, and death. Maleuvre sweeps us through a vast cultural landscape, enabling us to experience each stopping place as the cusp of a limitless journey, whether he is discussing the works of Picasso, Gothic architecture, Beethoven, or General Relativity. If, as Aristotle said, philosophy begins in wonder, then this remarkable book shows us how wonderthe urge to know beyond the conceivableis itself the engine of culture.

Didier Maleuvreis Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author ofThe Religion of Reality: Inquiry into the Self, Art, and TranscendenceandMuseum Memories: History, Technology, Art.

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction

Part One The Archaic Age

1. Permanence: Egypt, 2500 B.C.E.
2. Astonishment: Mesopotamia, circa 1900 B.C.E.
3. Enterprise: Aegean Sea, circa 725 B.C.E.
4. Tremor: Northern Kingdom of Israel, 500 B.C.E.

Part Two The Philosophical Age

5. Exile: The Desert of Moab, 450 B.C.E.
6. Synthesis: The Hellenic Archipelago, 500 B.C.E.
7. Closure: Athens, circa 400 B.C.E.

Part Three The Theological Age

8. Distance: Nicaea, 325 C.E.
9. Trembling: Hippo, 410
10. Space: The Northern Forest, 1100
11. Perspective: Mount Ventoux, April 1336
12. Ambivalence: Florence, 1503

Part Four The Scientific Age

13. Mortuus sum: Bordeaux, 1574
14. Nothing: Regensburg, May 8, 1654
15. Night: Neuberg, November 10, 1619

Part Five The SubjectivelC3