Reading Literature Historically
Subtitle: Drama and Poetry from Chaucer to the Reformation
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Published: 2013
Language: eng
Number of pages: 216
ISBN-13: 9780748681013
Subjects: English literature, history and criticism, early modern, 1500-1700
Description: How far should we try to read medieval and early modern texts historically? Does the attempt to uncover how such texts might have been received by their original readers and audiences uncover new, hitherto unexpected contemporary resonances in them? Or does it flatten works of art into mere 'secondary sources' for historical analysis? This book makes the case for the study of literature in context.