{"product_id":"a-theater-of-diplomacy-international-relations-and-the-performing-arts-in-early-modern-france-hardback-9780812249002","title":"A Theater of Diplomacy; International Relations and the Performing Arts in Early Modern France (Hardback) 9780812249002","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eA Theater of Diplomacy\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eInternational Relations and the Performing Arts in Early Modern France\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eEllen R. Welch (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780812249002\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 3 April 2017\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e312 pages, 1 illus.\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2.6 cm, 0.636 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"This book offers a series of important and fascinating studies about the interaction between the performing arts and diplomacy. Diplomats are often described as actors on a stage; more concretely their presence was important in court festivities; such forms of entertainment could accompany diplomatic practices. Ellen Welch chooses precise examples, especially ballets, from the end of the sixteenth century up to Louis XIV's reign to feed a remarkable reflection about the art (and arts) of peace.\" (\u003ci\u003eRenaissance Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e) \"Deftly situated at the crossroads of cultural, political, and aesthetic history, \u003ci\u003eA Theater of Diplomacy\u003c\/i\u003e bridges the thriving fields of performance studies and the history and theory of international relations. No single book in this arena of early modern Europe has undertaken the kind of ambitiously comprehensive synthesis, stretching across two centuries, that Welch has created here.\" (Larry F. Norman, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Shock of the Ancient: Literature and History in Early Modern France\u003c\/i\u003e) \"Ellen Welch brings to life a world that has become almost completely foreign, while taking care to note the influence of early modern diplomacy on the spectacular statecraft of our own time. \u003ci\u003eA Theater of Diplomacy\u003c\/i\u003e is a quiet invitation to consider the importance of art and spectacle for the expression of difference and the constitution of community.\" (Ellen McClure, University of Illinois at Chicago)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe seventeenth-century French diplomat FranÇois de CalliÈres once wrote that \"an ambassador resembles in some way an actor exposed on the stage to the eyes of the public in order to play great roles.\" The comparison of the diplomat to an actor became commonplace as the practice of diplomacy took hold in early modern Europe. More than an abstract metaphor, it reflected the rich culture of spectacular entertainment that was a backdrop to emissaries' day-to-day lives. Royal courts routinely honored visiting diplomats or celebrated treaty negotiations by staging grandiose performances incorporating dance, music, theater, poetry, and pageantry. These entertainments-allegorical ballets, masquerade balls, chivalric tournaments, operas, and comedies-often addressed pertinent themes such as war, peace, and international unity in their subject matter. In both practice and content, the extravagant exhibitions were fully intertwined with the culture of diplomacy. But exactly what kind of diplomatic work did these spectacles perform?\u003cbr\u003e Ellen R. Welch contends that the theatrical and performing arts had a profound influence on the development of modern diplomatic practices in early modern Europe. Using France as a case study, Welch explores the interconnected histories of international relations and the theatrical and performing arts. Her book argues that theater served not merely as a decorative accompaniment to negotiations, but rather underpinned the practices of embodied representation, performance, and spectatorship that constituted the culture of diplomacy in this period. Through its examination of the early modern precursors to today's cultural diplomacy initiatives, her book investigates the various ways in which performance structures international politics still.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. Orchestrating Dissonant Concord in the Bayonne Entertainments (1565)\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. The Ambassador's Point of View, from London to Paris (1608-9)\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. National Actors on the Ballet Stage (1620s-30s)\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. Richelieu's Allegories of War (1639-42)\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. Ballet Diplomacy at the Congress of Westphalia (1645-49)\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 6. Entertaining Personalities at Louis XIV's Court (1653-69)\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 7. Exotic Audiences (1668-1715)\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 8. Diplomacy on the Public Stage (1697-1714)\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52559189213464,"sku":"9780812249002","price":52.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/a-theater-of-diplomacy-international-relations-and-the-performing-arts-in-early-modern-france-hardback-9780812249002","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}