[Thomas N. Corns] A History of Seventeenth-Century English Literature (Blackwell History of Literature)(pdf){Zzzzz}

A History of Seventeenth–Century Literature outlines significant developments in the English literary tradition between the years 1603 and 1690.

An energetic and provocative history of English literature from 1603–1690.
Part of the major Blackwell History of English Literature series.
Locates seventeenth–century English literature in its social and cultural contexts.
Considers the physical conditions of literary production and consumption.
Looks at the complex political, religious, cultural and social pressures on seventeenth–century writers.
Features close critical engagement with major authors and texts

Thomas Corns is a major international authority on Milton, the Caroline Court, and the political literature of the English Civil War and the Interregnum.

Product Description
Review

Tom Corns s book is the first of its kind to attempt to relate literature to the history of its time not merely in broad abstract terms but in specific detail. He discusses individual works in such a way that they reoccupy their rightful place among the social and political events of their time. And so they come freshly alive. This is not the only story that could be told about literature, but it is one not to be ignored. Alastair Fowler, Regius Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature, University of Edinburgh

Thomas Corns has written an exceptionally fine and remarkably ambitious history of seventeenth–century English literary culture. One of its great virtues is that this history begins with the late Elizabethan period and extends its account to the very end of the seventeenth century, thereby crossing and reexamining traditional boundaries of literary historical periodisation. Corns deftly illuminates the distinctive aesthetic achievements of seventeenth–century English writers, while precisely situating their works in their social, political, and religious contexts, as well as in relation to the other arts. Students and scholars alike will find this new, wide–ranging literary history of the period invaluable. It is an outstanding achievement. David Loewenstein, University of Wisconsin–Madison
From the Back Cover
A History of Seventeenth–century English Literature outlines significant developments in the English literary tradition over a fascinating century of change and continuities.

After a thorough consideration of the conditions for literary production and consumption in the early seventeenth century, this volume continues with the major dynastic disruption of the end of the house of Tudor and the inception of the Stuart era, bringing with it major shifts in patterns of patronage and significant readjustments in dominant religious and political ideologies. Central chapters deal with the glittering court culture of Charles I (and reactions to it), with the cultural impact of the Civil War, and with the complex challenges the Restoration posed to writers across the political spectrum. It ends with the completion of the Williamite revolution, which reorders cultural relations within the ruling elite, marks a new phase for dissenting writers, alters the nature of press control, and coincides with the transformation of the reading public.

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; Reprint edition (14 February 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1118652525
ISBN-13: 978-1118652527