Literary Case Studies in Cowardice

Parolles, Waller, and Hirsch
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-3-031-98799-1
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 286 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 491 g

This book offers case studies from throughout literature to reveal cowardice as a more complex and interesting phenomenon than typically understood. Pushing beyond the straightforward treatment of cowardice in military contexts and others where it is subject to punishment or severe condemnation, Hillyer asks: how do cowards survive in a world generally hostile to them and why do they attract such wide vituperation? Following a lexical and literary overview of cowardice starting with the Oxford English Dictionary to provide a big picture, chapters provide deep dives into specific cowardly character representatives, including Shakespeare's Parolles ( ), English poet and politician Edmund Waller, and Joseph Conrad's Hirsch ( ). 

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hillyer, Richard

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Stoffe, Motive und Themen
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Prosa, Erzählung, Roman, Prosaautoren
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Dramen und Dramatiker

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction: The Most Contemptible Imaginable.- 2. Simply the Thing I am: The Case of M Parolles.- 3. A World of Very Great Faults: The Case of Mr Waller.- 4. A Miracle of Fear: The Case of Sr Hirsch.- 5. Conclusion.

Über Autor(innen)

Richard Hillyer  is Professor of English at University of South Alabama, USA. His previous books include  (2020),  (2020), (2013),  (2010), and  (2007).