Enchantment: The Seductress in Opera

Jean Starobinski

March, 2008
Cloth, 288 pages, 9 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14090-4
$29.50 / £17.50

"[A] thought-provoking philosophical study . . . Recommended." — Library Journal

"The originality and inestimable contribution of this book lie in the finesse, range of cultural reference, and profundity of thought that Jean Starobinski brings to his analyses of the structural translation of words into song (libretti into music) in a rich body of operatic works. Starobinski writes from a great depth of cultural knowledge, without a drop of jargon, in clear, poetically resonant prose that brings highly complex subjects alive both intellectually and aesthetically." — Suzanne C. Nash, professor of romance languages and literatures, Princeton University

"Jean Starobinski is one of the most prominent literary scholars in the Francophone world, a status which he owes in no small part to his splendid writing skills. This richly literary and interdisciplinary approach to opera makes his work quite unique and very enjoyable to read." — Dan Edelstein, assistant professor of French, Stanford University

Related Subjects

• Classical Music
• Music

Series

• European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism

About the Author

Jean Starobinski is a well-known critic of French and comparative literature, and of music, and has taught at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Basel, and the University of Geneva. His books in translation include Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Transparency and Obstruction; The Living Eye; Action and Reaction: The Life and Adventures of a Couple; and The Invention of Liberty, 1700-1789. C. Jon Delogu is professor of English at the Université Jean Moulin-Lyon III in France.

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