Defending Lit Early Modern England: Renaissance Literary Theory in Social Context: 37 (Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture, Series Number 37) - Softcover

Matz, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 052103518X ISBN 13: 9780521035187

Verlag: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Inhaltsangabe

This book, first published in 2000, analyses the defense of literature in Renaissance England in the context of social transformations particularly affecting the aristocracy. Alongside revisionary accounts of the work of Elyot, Sidney and Spenser, this original study engages with important theoretical work such as Pierre Bourdieu's and offers a substantial critique of New Historicist theory.

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Críticas:

'Matz provides both insightful readings and an important rethinking of the social, intellectual, and literary contexts of the Renaissance's concern with the place and function of literature.' Early Modern Literary Studies

'Matz's readings are lucid and well grounded and they help to stimulate new thinking ...' Shakespeare Yearbook

Reseña del editor:

Why was literature so often defended and defined in early modern England in terms of its ability to provide the Horatian ideal of both profit and pleasure? This book, first published in 2000, analyses Renaissance literary theory in the context of social transformations of the period, focusing on conflicting ideas about gentility that emerged as the English aristocracy evolved from a feudal warrior class to a civil elite. Through close readings centered on works by Thomas Elyot, Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser, Matz argues that literature attempted to mediate a complex set of contradictory social expectations. His original study engages with important theoretical work such as Pierre Bourdieu's and offers a substantial critique of New Historicist theory. It challenges recent accounts of the power of Renaissance authorship, emphasizing the uncertain status of literature during this time of cultural change, and sheds light on why and how canonical works became canonical.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2008
• ISBN 10: 052103518X
• ISBN 13: 9780521035187
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 204