Privacy in the Age of Shakespeare
Published on 24. March 2016
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-1-4426-4791-6 (ISBN)
Description
For at least a generation, scholars have asserted that privacy barely existed in the early modern era. The divide between the public and private was vague, they say, and the concept, if it was acknowledged, was rarely valued. In Privacy in the Age of Shakespeare, Ronald Huebert challenges these assumptions by marshalling evidence that it was in Shakespeare's time that the idea of privacy went from a marginal notion to a desirable quality.
The era of transition begins with More's Utopia (1516), in which privacy is forbidden. It ends with Milton's Paradise Lost (1667), in which privacy is a good to be celebrated. In between come Shakespeare's plays, paintings by Titian and Vermeer, devotional manuals, autobiographical journals, and the poetry of George Herbert and Robert Herrick, all of which Huebert carefully analyses in order to illuminate the dynamic and emergent nature of early modern privacy.
The era of transition begins with More's Utopia (1516), in which privacy is forbidden. It ends with Milton's Paradise Lost (1667), in which privacy is a good to be celebrated. In between come Shakespeare's plays, paintings by Titian and Vermeer, devotional manuals, autobiographical journals, and the poetry of George Herbert and Robert Herrick, all of which Huebert carefully analyses in order to illuminate the dynamic and emergent nature of early modern privacy.
Reviews / Votes
'Highly recommended.'- F.L. Den (Choice Magazine vol 54:02:2016) 'Ronald Huebert's impressive book offers a welcome counter weight to many studies (recent and forthcoming) on various aspects of publicity, sociality, and material embeddedness in the Renaissance.'
- Kevin Curran (Studies in English Literature (SEL) vol 57:02:2017) 'The close reading practices that are deployed through the book reveal a remarkable pattern on intersected social and literary practice.... Huebert takes readers on a richly rewarded journey through the interface of literary discourse and social theory.'
- Daniiel Fischlin (Renaissance & reformation vol 39:03:2016) "This book's great strength is its survey of a diverse collection of literary works, including manuscripts and printed works, authors from the canonical to the obscure, women writers as well as men, and plays, lyric poems, utopian fiction, domestic advice tracts, commonplace books, and diaries."
- Mary Trull, St. Olaf College (University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer 2018)
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
11 b&w illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 33 mm
Weight
680 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4426-4791-6 (9781442647916)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Ronald Huebert is a professor in the Department of English at Dalhousie University and Carnegie Professor at the University of King's College.
Content
Preface
Bibliographical Note
Introduction Privacy: The Early Social History of a Word
Chapter 1. Invasions of Privacy in Shakespeare
Chapter 2. Private Devotions
Chapter 3. Voyeurism
Chapter 4. The Commonplace Book and the Private Self
Chapter 5. Privacy and Gender
Chapter 6. Privacy in Paradise
Chapter 7. Privacy and Dissidence
Chapter 8. 'A Fine and Private Place': Andrew Marvell
Conclusion
Bibliographical Note
Introduction Privacy: The Early Social History of a Word
Chapter 1. Invasions of Privacy in Shakespeare
Chapter 2. Private Devotions
Chapter 3. Voyeurism
Chapter 4. The Commonplace Book and the Private Self
Chapter 5. Privacy and Gender
Chapter 6. Privacy in Paradise
Chapter 7. Privacy and Dissidence
Chapter 8. 'A Fine and Private Place': Andrew Marvell
Conclusion