Guilty creatures : Renaissance poetry and the ethics of authorship / Dennis Kezar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kezar, Dennis, 1968-

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700--History and criticism.

English literature.

Death in literature.

English drama (Tragedy)--History and criticism.

English drama (Tragedy).

Poetry--Authorship--Psychological aspects.

Poetry.

Renaissance--England.

Renaissance.

England.

Violence in literature.

Guilt in literature.

Physical Description:

viii, 268 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2001.

Summary:

In this innovative and learned study, Dennis Kezar examines how Renaissance poets conceive the theme of killing as a specifically representational and interpretive form of violence. Closely reading both major poets and lesser known authors of the early modern period, Kezar explores the ethical self-consciousness and accountability that attend literary killing, paying particular attention to the ways in which this reflection indicates the poet's understanding of his audience.

Among the many poems through which Kezar explores the concept of authorial guilt elicited by violent representation are Skelton's Phyllyp Sparowe, Spenser's Faerie Queene, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, the multiauthored Witch of Edmonton, and Milton's Samson Agonistes. Each chapter places an incident of textual violence within the context of England's literary and social history. In each case, Kezar offers an original account of early modern depictions of violence that reflects on the poetic process and explores the ethical ramifications of literature for both author and audience. In emphasizing the social, literary, and historical consequences of "killing poems," this volume further advances scholarship in historicist and speech-act theories of the early modern period.

Contents:

Courting heresy and taking the subject: John Skelton's precedent

Spenser and the poetics of indiscretion

The properties of Shakespeare's Globe

The witch of Edmonton and the guilt of possession

Samson's death by theater and Milton's art of dying

Guilt and the constitution of authorship in Henry V and the antitheatrical elegies of W. S. and Milton.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-262) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0195142950

OCLC:

44118032