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Why was literature so often defended and defined in early modern England in terms of its ability to provide the Horatian ideal of both profit and pleasure? Robert Matz analyzes Renaissance literary theory in the context of social transformations of the period, focusing on conflicting ideas about gentility that emerged as the English aristocracy evolved from a feudal warrior class to a civil elite. Through close readings centered on works by Thomas Elyot, Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser, Matz argues that literature attempted to mediate a complex set of contradictory social expectations. His…mehr

Produktbeschreibung
Why was literature so often defended and defined in early modern England in terms of its ability to provide the Horatian ideal of both profit and pleasure? Robert Matz analyzes Renaissance literary theory in the context of social transformations of the period, focusing on conflicting ideas about gentility that emerged as the English aristocracy evolved from a feudal warrior class to a civil elite. Through close readings centered on works by Thomas Elyot, Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser, Matz argues that literature attempted to mediate a complex set of contradictory social expectations. His original study engages with important theoretical work such as Pierre Bourdieu's and offers a substantial critique of New Historicist theory. It challenges recent accounts of the power of Renaissance authorship, emphasizing the uncertain status of literature during this time of cultural change, and sheds light on why and how canonical works became canonical.

Table of contents:
1. Introduction: aut prodesse aut delectare; 2. Recreating reading: Elyot's Boke Named the Governour; 3. Heroic diversions: Sidney's Defence of Poesie; 4. A 'gentle discipline': Spenser's Faerie Queene; 5. Epilogue: from text to work?

Robert Matz analyzes the defense of literature in Renaissance England in the context of social transformations particularly affecting the aristocracy. Alongside revisionary accounts of the work of Elyot, Sidney and Spenser, this original study engages with important theoretical work such as Pierre Bourdieu's and offers a substantial critique of New Historicist theory.

This study analyses Renaissance literary theory in the context of social transformations of the period.
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Autorenporträt
Robert Matz is an associate professor of English at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.