Literature, Travel, and Colonial Writing in the English Renaissance, 1545-1625 (Hardcover)

Andrew Hadfield

ISBN 10: 0198184808 / ISBN 13: 9780198184805

Published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998

About this Item

Hardcover. What was the purpose of representing foreign lands for writers in the English Renaissance? This innovative and wide-ranging study argues that writers often used their works as vehicles to reflect on the state of contemporary English politics, particularly their own lack of representation in public institutions. Sometimes such analyses took the form of displaced allegories, whereby writers contrasted the advantages enjoyed, or disadvantages suffered, by foreignsubjects with the political conditions of Tudor and Stuart England. Elsewhere, more often in explicitly colonial writings, authors meditated on the problems of government when faced with the possiblyviolent creation of a new society. If Venice was commonly held up as a beacon of republican liberty which England would do well to imitate, the fear of tyrannical Catholic Spain was ever present - inspiring and haunting much of the colonial literature from 1580 onwards. This stimulating book examines fictional and non-fictional writings, illustrating both the close connections between the two made by early modern readers and the problems involved in the usual assumption that we can make senseof the past with the categories available to us. Hadfield explores in his work representations of Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Far East, selecting pertinent examples rather than attempting toembrace a total coverage. He also offers fresh readings of Shakespeare, Marlowe, More, Lyly, Hakluyt, Harriot, Nashe, and others. This wide-ranging study argues that English Renaissance writers often used their works as vehicles to reflect on the state of contemporary English politics. Through critical discussions of fictional and non-fictional texts, Hadfield explores representations of Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Far East. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780198184805

Bibliographic Details

Title: Literature, Travel, and Colonial Writing in ...

Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford

Publication Date: 1998

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis:

Explores representations of Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Far East in a wide-ranging and innovative study of English travel writing

Review:

scholarly and informed book ... Hadfield's book is an enterprising examination of the intricacies of political comment in Tudor and Stuart times, and he is adept in teasing out the significance of cautious multi-layered narrative. (Philip Edwards, Times Literary Supplement)