Nectar and Illusion

Nectar and Illusion marshals an impressive corpus of visual and textual evidence in support of its arguments. In the process, it raises a number of questions, some of which it addresses directly and others which, hopefully, shall be taken up in future studies... Nectar and Illusion is invaluable...for reminding us forcefully that Byzantine visual culture is far richer, more varied, and often, more puzzlingly and delightfully inconsistent than its stately icons of Christ, the Virgin, and the saints would have us believe. Paroma Chatterjee, Bryn Mawr Classical Review Henry Maguire traces the complex rise and fall of Byzantine portrayals of the natural world in his beautiful Nectar and Illusion ... The author has marshaled a vast array of examples...to present cogent arguments about the shifting place of nature and other elements of the physical world (such as architecture in Byzantine culture... [T]he broader brush arguments Maguire draws are magnificent. Lydia Wilson, Times Literary Supplement In this magisterial analysis of Byzantine responses to the natural world, Henry Maguire presents complex and shifting responses to nature with enviable clarity, while showing us how seemingly simple details illuminate the relationship between the earthly and the divine. Anyone interested in Byzantine culture will have to read this book. Leslie Brubaker, University of Birmingham Juxtaposing visual and verbal rhetorics of nature in Byzantium, Henry Maguire offers a vast, stimulating range of analyses to show how knowingly Byzantine imagery inflects its presentation of the natural world. Nonetheless, he concludes that nature, like rhetoric itself, was viewed as seductive: sweet like nectar, but treacherous if taken at face value. Annemarie Carr, Southern Methodist University Nectar and Illusion provides a window into a little discussed aspect of the Byzantine world-the world of nature-into which Henry Maguire once again brings to bear his broad experience acquired through a long and productive career. His keen ability to single out and analyze revealing aspects of the literary heritage in relation to visual and material culture is unmatched in the field. Carolyn L. Connor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill