Includes bibliographical references (pages 210-270) and index
"The quarrel between the ancients and the moderns was an old dispute when it was resumed with special ferocity in the later seventeenth century as writers and artists, their friends and patrons, debated how far to risk the freedom to innovate. In this book Joseph M. Levine argues that it was this tension that gave unity to the cultural life of the period and helped define its baroque character. He also asserts that, contrary to public opinion, neither side won - even as modern superiority was being proclaimed in philosophy and the sciences, the precedence of the ancients was being reaffirmed in literature and the arts."--BOOK JACKET.
John Evelyn and the two cultures -- - John Evelyn and the education of antiquity -- - Evelyn between the ancients and the moderns -- - John Dryden between the ancients and the moderns -- - Dryden and the moderns -- - Dryden and the ancients -- - Dryden and the battle of the books -- - Dryden's virgil and the triumph of antiquity -- - France and England: the sieur de Saint-Evremond -- - Saint-Evremond and the moderns -- - Saint-Evremond, Dryden and the opera -- - Saint-Evremond in England -- - Christopher Wren and the quarrel between the ancients and the moderns -- - Restoration architecture and the young Christopher Wren -- - Restoration architecture between the ancients and the moderns
