The Unrepentant Renaissance - From Petrarch to Shakespeare to Milton

Strier, Richard

ISBN 10: 0226777510 / ISBN 13: 9780226777511

Published by University of Chicago Press, 2012

About this Item

Who during the Renaissance could have dissented from the values of reason and restraint, patience and humility, rejection of the worldly and the physical? This title counters the prevalent view of the period as dominated by the regulation of bodies and passions, intending to reclaim the Renaissance as an era happily churning with energies. Num Pages: 328 pages. BIC Classification: DSBB; DSBD. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 157 x 235 x 26. Weight in Grams: 572. . 2012. hardcover. . . . .

Seller Inventory # V9780226777511

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Unrepentant Renaissance - From Petrarch to Shakespeare to Milton
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226777510
• ISBN 13: 9780226777511
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Dedicated to discussing writings of the European Renaissance that dissented from the dominant values of the period.

Who during the Renaissance could have dissented from the values of reason and restraint, patience and humility, rejection of the worldly and the physical? These widely articulated values were part of the inherited Christian tradition and were reinforced by key elements in the Renaissance, especially the revival of Stoicism and Platonism. This book is devoted to those who did dissent from them. Richard Strier reveals that many long-recognized major texts did question the most traditional values and belong to a Renaissance far more unconstrained and affirmative than much recent scholarship has allowed.

The Unrepentant Renaissance counters the prevalent view of the period as dominated by the regulation of bodies and passions; the book aims to reclaim the Renaissance as an era happily churning with surprising, worldly, and self-assertive energies. Reviving the perspective of Burckhardt and Nietzsche, Strier provides fresh and uninhibited readings of texts by Petrarch, Shakespeare (sonnets and plays), Loyola, Montaigne, Descartes, and Milton. Strier’s lively argument, expressed in lucid prose, is meant to stir debate throughout the field of Renaissance studies.

About the Author

Richard Strier is the Frank L. Sulzberger Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Department of English and in the College at the University of Chicago. He has coedited several interdisciplinary essay collections and is the author of many articles and four books, most recently Shakespearean Issues. Two of his coedited collections, Shakespeare and the Law and The Historical Renaissance, were also published by the University of Chicago Press.