Transparency and Dissimulation: Configurations of Neoplatonism in Early Modern English Literature. Transformationen der Antike 16. Academia.edu A Cartesian Renaissance - Spenser Online Archive
: Specifically, the study looks at The Faerie Queene , where Neoplatonism provides the framework for understanding aesthetic perfection and moral virtue.
Scholars from Spenser Online and Academia.edu have noted the book's "intellectual rigour" in linking aesthetic perfection with Neoplatonic metaphysics, cementing it as a foundational text for understanding the philosophical underpinnings of early modern prose and poetry. Verena Olejniczak Lobsien, Transparency and Dissimulation Transparency and Dissimulation: Configurations ...
This research was conducted within the "Transformations of Antiquity" collaborative research center in Berlin. It emphasizes that Neoplatonism was not just "inherited" from the past but was actively transformed. These transformations often involved a hybridity of ideas, where Neoplatonic love and beauty were negotiated alongside skepticism and the shifting religious identities of the Reformation.
Lobsien traces these philosophical strands through the works of several major English authors, with a particular focus on: Scholars from Spenser Online and Academia
The title captures the dual nature of the Neoplatonic aesthetic during this period:
: The belief that the material world can become "transparent" to the divine, allowing the human soul to glimpse eternal truths through beauty and art. These transformations often involved a hybridity of ideas,
: The acknowledgment that these truths are often hidden, veiled, or "dissimulated" behind complex allegories and poetic forms. This duality reflects a broader Renaissance anxiety regarding the reliability of perception and the nature of truth. Key Literary Figures and Applications