James
Simpson.
The Oxford English Literary History - Volume 2:
1350-1547:
Reform and Cultural Revolution.
Oxford U.P., 2002.
680 pages, 12
halftones.
Hardback ISBN
0198182619.
Publisher's
recommended price £30.00
Heralding
a new era
in literary studies, the Oxford
English Literary History breaks the
mould
of traditional approaches to the canon by focusing on the contexts in
which
authors wrote and how their work was shaped by the times in which they
lived. These are books that every serious student and scholar of the
period
will need on their shelves.
James
Simpson
covers both high medieval and Tudor writing, showing how the coming of
the Renaissance and Reformation displaced the earlier, hospitably
diverse
literary culture. Out went the flourishing variousness of medieval
writing
(Chaucer, Langland, the 'mystery' plays, feminine visionary writing);
in
came writing - by Wyatt, Surrey, and others - that prized coherence and
unity, even while reflecting a sense of what had been lost.
Contents:
Introduction;
1 The Melancholy of John Leland and the Beginnings of English Literary
History; 2 The Energies of John Lydgate; 3 The Tragic; 4 The Elegiac; 5
The Political; 6 The Comic; 7 Edifying the Church; 8 Moving Images; 9
The
Biblical; 10 The Dramatic; Envoi; Author Bibliographies; Suggestions
for
Further Reading; Works Cited; Index
Readership:
Scholars
and students of English literature and of a wide range of non-literary
writings, especially devotional and historical; medieval and
Reformation
historians.
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