Catastrophizing: Materialism And The Making Of Disaster

308 Pages·2019·3.676 MB·English

by  Gerard Passannante

Catastrophizing

C ATA S T R O P H I Z I N G
Materialism and the Making of Disaster
gerard passannante
The University of Chicago Press
ChiCago & London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2019 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the
case of brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more
information, contact the University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th
Street, Chicago, iL 60637.
Published 2019
Printed in the United States of America
28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19  1 2 3 4 5
isBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 61221- 8 (cloth)
isBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 61235- 5 (e- book)
doi: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226612355.001.0001
This publication is made possible in part from the Barr Ferree Foundation Fund
for Publications, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Passannante, Gerard Paul, 1978– author.
Title: Catastrophizing : materialism and the making of disaster / Gerard Passannante.
Description: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCn 2018036448 | isBn 9780226612218 (cloth : alk. paper) |
isBn 9780226612355 (ebook)
Subjects: LCsh: Catastrophizing. | Catastrophical, The. | Catastrophical, The, in art. |
Catastrophical, The, in literature.
Classification: LCC Bd375 .p37 2019 | ddC 146 /.3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018036448
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48- 1992
(Permanence of Paper).
for david CarroLL simon

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
introduCtion Catastrophizing: A Beginner’s Guide 1
one Leonardo’s Disasters 27
two Earthquakes of the Mind 79
three Shakespeare’s Catastrophic “Anything” 114
four The Earthquake and the Microscope 147
five Disaster before the Sublime; or, Kant’s Catastrophes 192
afterword Catastrophizing in the Age of Climate Change 236
Acknowledgments 245
Bibliography 249
Index 279

iLLus trations
pLates (foLLowing page 86)
1. Leonardo da Vinci, “A deluge” (ca. 1517–18)
2. Leonardo da Vinci, “A tempest” (ca. 1517–18)
3. Leonardo da Vinci, “A tempest” (ca. 1517–18) (detail)
4. Leonardo da Vinci, “A deluge” (ca. 1517–18)
5. Leonardo da Vinci, “A deluge” (ca. 1517–18)
figures
1. Leonardo da Vinci, “Fable, prophecy” (ca. 1500) 40
2. Hagop Sandaldjian, “Eternal Symbol (Mount Ararat)” (ca. 1986) 148
3. Athanasius Kircher, “System of Subterranean Fire” (1620) 151
4. Robert Hooke, “Ammonite fossils” (1705) 168
5. Anon., “Fürstellung des Erdbebens zu Lissabon” (1756) 215
6. After Jacques Philippe Le Bas, “Basilica de Santa Maria” (1755) 216
7. Johann Michael Roth, “Lisbon before and after” (1756) 218
8. Johan Henricus Giese, Tobacco box
(late eighteenth century) 219