In Renaissance Europe, when 'leisure classes' used social gathering to define civility and the commercialization of leisure was beginning, the human need for recreation became a cultural topos. The book explores the vocabulary of play and games; the spectrum of leisure activities, often gender-specific or appropriate to particular social groups; the medical discourse on the preservation of health, where amusements were assessed as physical exercise; the moral approach to play; legal treatises on gambling; and the visual representation of leisure.

Auteur

ALESSANDRO ARCANGELI (PhD Pisa) Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Verona, has studied at the Warburg Institute (1989-90) and was a Fellow of Villa I Tatti (1998-99). His book on the cultural history of dance, Davide o Salomè, was awarded a prize (Finale Ligure Storia, 2001).

Résumé
During the European Renaissance, the idea that human beings need periodical rest from their ordinary occupations became commonplace. Medical writing justified a variety of physical activities as beneficial to the preservation of health. Under the influence of Aristotle, moral literature coined the notion of the art of amusing oneself and one's interlocutors, by keeping the mean between excessive laughter and excessive seriousness. Christian writers produced their own categories, by which many pastimes could be disapproved of. Italy hosted a school of legal writing on games, mainly concerned with gambling. The legal discourse was not dominated by prohibitions - because political power could find reasons for tolerating or even promoting some forms of recreation. Social hierarchy, gender and age clearly affected the ways in which specific pastimes were practised and perceived. Thus, leisure existed and mattered well before the Industrial Revolution: its theory and practice significantly shaped an epoch and its self-image.

Contenu

List of Figures Preface PART 1: INTRODUCTION Games and Leisure between history and social theory PART 2: THE NEED FOR RECREATION Paradise Lost A saint, an archer and his bow (story of an exemplum ) A right to be idle? PART 3: THE MEDICAL DISCOURSE Motion and rest Ancient and modern forms of exercise 'The manner of governing health' Amor et alea PART 4: THE MORAL DISCOURSE Reason versus Joy A virtue to remember A view from Paris Games without a chance Juego(s) A time for play? PART 5: GAMES AND LAW Ius commune De ludo Panem et circenses The regulation of extravagance PART 6: VARIETIES OF PASTIMES Leisure and social hierarchy Plaisirs des dames Children's games Medieval and Renaissance taxonomies PART 7: CONCLUSION Appendix: the European Vocabulary of Recreation Notes Bibliography Index