Literature, Politics and National Identity Reformation to Renaissance

Hadfield, Andrew

ISBN 10: 0521118859 / ISBN 13: 9780521118859

Published by Cambridge University Press, 2009

About this Item

VERY GOOD/NO DJ xvii 265 pp. Text clean and unmarked. Yellow wraps with black lettering on cover and spine in very good condition. Binding firm. Seller Inventory # 037797

Bibliographic Details

Title: Literature, Politics and National Identity ...

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Publication Date: 2009

Binding: Softcover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket

About this title

Synopsis:

For many years C. S. Lewis's dismissal of the sixteenth century as a 'drab age' influenced literary scholars. Andrew Hadfield offers a challenging reinterpretation, through study of the work of some of the century's most important writers, including Skelton, Bale, Sidney, Spenser, Baldwin and the Earl of Surrey. He argues that all were involved in the establishment of a vernacular literary tradition as a crucial component of English identity, yet also wished to use the category of 'literature' to create a public space for critical political debate. Conventional assumptions - that pre-modern and modern history are neatly separated by the Renaissance, and that literary history is best studied as an autonomous narrative - are called into question: this book is a study of literary texts, but also a contribution to theories and histories of politics, national identity and culture.

Book Description:

Andrew Hadfield offers a challenging reinterpretation of the sixteenth century through the work of major writers of the time, their involvement in the establishment of a vernacular literary tradition as a crucial component of English identity, and the development of 'literature' as a site of critical and political debate.