Writing under Tyranny
English Literature and the Henrician Reformation
ISBN13: 9780199283330ISBN10: 0199283338
Hardback,
566 pages
Nov 2005,
Out of Stock
Price:
$170.00 (06)Description
Writing Under Tyranny spans the boundaries between literary studies and history. It looks at the impact of tyrannical government on the work of poets, playwrights, and prose writers of the early English Renaissance. It shows the profound effects that political oppression had on the literary production of the years from 1528 to 1547, and how English writers in turn strove to mitigate, redirect, and finally resist that oppression. The result was the destruction of a number of forms that had dominated the literary production of late-medieval England, but also the creation of new forms that were to dominate the writing of the following centuries. Paradoxically, the tyranny of Henry VIII gave birth to many modes of writing now seen to be characteristic of the English literary Renaissance.Features
- Reads literary texts in the light of political tyranny and offers a new way to think about the birth of the English literary Renaissance
- Tells the story of Henry VIII's fall into murderous tyranny through the response of the literary texts of the period
About the Author(s)
Greg Walker is Professor of Early-Modern Literature and Culture and Director of the Medieval Research Centre at the University of Leicester.
