"This book seeks to understand what imagination meant in early modern Europe, and particularly in early modern France, before the Romantic era gave the term its modern meaning. The author explores the themes surrounding early modern notions of imagination (including hostility to imagination) through the writings of such figures as Descartes, Montaigne, Francois de Sales, Pascal, the Marquise de Sevigne, Madame de Lafayette, and Fenelon."--Jacket.