Eccentricity

What did it mean to call someone 'eccentric' in nineteenth-century Paris? And why did breaking with convention arouse such ambivalent responses in middle-class readers, writers, and spectators? From high society to Bohemia and the demi-monde to the madhouse, the scandal of nonconformism provoked anxiety, disgust, and often secret yearning. In a culture preoccupied by the need for order yet simultaneously drawn to the values of freedom and innovation, eccentricity continually tested the boundaries of bourgeois identity, ultimately becoming inseparable from it. This interdisciplinary study charts shifting French perceptions of the anomalous and bizarre from the 1830s to the fin de siècle, focusing on three key issues. First, during the July Monarchy eccentricity was linked to fashion, dandyism, and commodity culture; to many Parisians it epitomized the dangerous seductions of modernity and the growing prestige of the courtesan. Second, in the aftermath of the 1848 Revolution eccentricity was associated with the Bohemian artists and performers who inhabited 'the unknown Paris', a zone of social exclusion which middle-class spectators found both fascinating and repugnant. Finally, the popularization of medical theories of national decline in the latter part of the century led to decreasing tolerance for individual difference, and eccentricity was interpreted as a symptom of hidden insanity and deformity. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including etiquette manuals, fashion magazines, newspapers, novels, and psychiatric treatises, the study highlights the central role of gender in shaping perceptions of eccentricity. It provides new readings of works by major French writers and illuminates both well-known and neglected figures of Parisian modernity, from the courtesan and Bohemian to the female dandy and circus freak.

The concept of eccentricity was central to how people in the 19th century understood their world. This book explores how, from the turn of the century, discourses of eccentricity were established to make sense of individuals who did not seem to fit within an increasingly organized social and economic order.

In this companion to his The Cornucopian Mind and the Baroque Unity of the Arts, Maiorino examines the links between Renaissance and the modern versions of the Groteseque. In this interdisciplinary study, the term &"eccentricity&" refers to styles of playful extravagance. Maiorino focuses on the rhetorical figures of excess employed by a critic-historian (Giorgio Vasari), on the willful artificiality of a painter (Giuseppe Arcimboldo), and on the programmatic and interpretive commentary of a theorist (Gregorio Comanini). Maiorino draws subtle and persuasive connections between the images he discusses and the grotesque &"face&" of sixteenth-century poetics and rhetoric. He sets the mannerist and the grotesque against the philosophical seriousness of Renaissance humanism, interpreting them as a celebration of the ludic and fantastic possibilities of art itself. Aiming at pleasure rather than instruction, this art plays on the boundaries of the natural and the artificial, the credible and the impossible, taking delight in parody, excess, disjunction, and exaggeration.

Electromagnetic Analysis and Condition Monitoring of Synchronous Generators Discover an insightful and complete overview of electromagnetic analysis and fault diagnosis in large synchronous generators In Electromagnetic Analysis and Condition Monitoring of Synchronous Generators, a team of distinguished engineers delivers a comprehensive review of the electromagnetic analysis and fault diagnosis of synchronous generators. Beginning with an introduction to several types of synchronous machine structures, the authors move on to the most common faults found in synchronous generators and their impacts on performance. The book includes coverage of different modeling tools, including the finite element method, winding function, and magnetic equivalent circuit, as well as various types of health monitoring systems focusing on the magnetic field, voltage, current, shaft flux, and vibration. Finally, Electromagnetic Analysis and Condition Monitoring of Synchronous Generators covers signal processing tools that can help identify hidden patterns caused by faults and machine learning tools enabling automated condition monitoring. The book also includes: A thorough introduction to condition monitoring in electric machines and its importance to synchronous generators Comprehensive explorations of the classification of synchronous generators, including armature arrangement, machine construction, and applications Practical discussions of different types of electrical and mechanical faults in synchronous generators, including short circuit faults, eccentricity faults, misalignment, core-related faults, and broken damper bar faults In-depth examinations of the modeling of healthy and faulty synchronous generators, including analytical and numerical methods Perfect for engineers working in electrical machine analysis, maintenance, and fault detection, Electromagnetic Analysis and Condition Monitoring of Synchronous Generators is also an indispensable resource for professors and students in electrical power engineering.