Milton's Peculiar Grace: Self-Representation and Authority - Softcover

Fallon, Stephen M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080147485X ISBN 13: 9780801474859

Publisher: Cornell University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Despite writing about himself extensively and repeatedly, John Milton, the archetypal Puritan author, resolutely avoids the obligatory Augustinian narrative of sinfulness, conviction of sin, reception of the Word, regeneration of the spirit, and sanctification. The doctrine of fall, grace, and regeneration, so well illustrated in Paradise Lost, has no discernible effect on Milton's overt self-representations. Exploring this anomaly in his new book, Stephen M. Fallon contends that Milton, despite his deep engagement with theology, is not a religious writer.

Why, Fallon asks, does Milton write about himself so compulsively? Why does he substitute, for the otherwise universal theological script, a story of precocious and continued virtue, even, it seems, a narrative of sinlessness? What pressures does this decision to reject the standard narrative exert on his work?

In Milton's Peculiar Grace, Fallon argues that Milton writes about himself to gain immortality, secure authority for his arguments, and exert control over his readers' interpretations. He traces the return of the repressed narrative of fallenness in the author's unacknowledged and displaced self-representations, which in turn account for much of the power of the late poems. Fallon's book, based on close readings of Milton's "self-constructions" in prose and poetry throughout his career, provides a new view of Milton's life and his importance for contemporary literary theory-in particular for continued questions about authorial intention.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"Emphasizing the significance of how Milton's sense of self evolved from the outset of his career to the final period of his writings, Milton's Peculiar Grace advances the ongoing discussion of self-representation and self-fashioning in the early modern period. Stephen M. Fallon demonstrates that Milton inscribed his selfhood throughout his works. The conclusions Fallon draws are at once timely and compelling; this book is a genuine pleasure to read."-Michael Lieb, University of Illinois at Chicago

About the Author:

Stephen M. Fallon is Cavanaugh Professor in the Humanities at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of Milton among the Philosophers: Poetry and Materialism in Seventeenth-Century England, also available from Cornell.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 080147485X
• ISBN 13: 9780801474859
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296