War, Liberty, and Caesar

Responses to Lucan's Bellum Ciuile, ca. 1580 - 1650
Erscheinungsjahr 2013
ISBN: 978-0-19-960298-8
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 352 Seiten, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 223 mm, Gewicht: 554 g

Reihe: Classical Presences

In War, Liberty, and Caesar, Edward Paleit discusses how readers and writers of the English Renaissance read and understood Lucan's (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, c. AD 39 - 65) epic poem on the Roman civil wars. It argues that the period between 1580 and 1650 in England, during which his text was much read, edited, discussed, imitated, translated, and quarreled over, can arguably be termed as the 'age of Lucan'. Looking at engagements with Lucan across a wide
variety of literary forms, including poetry, drama, translations, and prose treatises, Paleit questions what made this Latin author so relevant during this period. Are there common features to the way readers responded to him? In what ways did Lucan help readers to structure and come to terms with their
political experiences?

Among major English authors discussed are Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Samuel Daniel, Philip Massinger, and Thomas May. As well as examining the factors that shaped Lucan for early modern readers - for example London literary communities, or the reading practices instilled by humanist pedagogy - Paleit examines Lucan's impact on debates over the English constitution and the nature of freedom, his use as a war poet by militaristically inclined readers, and the perverse thrill many readers
experienced on encountering his blood-curdling descriptions of the horrific and unnatural.

Zielgruppe

For students and scholars interested in classical studies, classical reception, ancient history, Renaissance and comparative literary studies, and English history

Autoren/Hrsg.

Paleit, Edward

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Historiographie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Geschichte der klassischen Antike Römische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
Abbreviations
Note
Introduction: An Author of Commanding Altitude
Part I: Contexts of Reading
1: Lucan in Humanist Pedagogy
2: Lucan in Controversy: Poetry, History and Truth
Part II: Readings
3: Lucan and the Caesarist Reader, ca. 1590-1610
4: Speaking to Pothinus: Lucan and 'commonwealth' drama from The Misfortunes of Arthur to The Tragedy of Nero
5: Divided Readers: Lucan in mid-Jacobean England
6: Thomas May and the Fall of English Liberty
7: Ending Lucan
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Edward Paleit is a lecturer at the University of Exeter. His interests are in Renaissance literature and culture, with a particular emphasis on the reception of classical texts and English political writing of the early seventeenth century.