Humanism, Capitalism, and Rhetoric in Early Modern England: The Separation of the Citizen from the Self

Lynette Hunter

Published by Medieval Institute Publications 2022

Humanism, Capitalism, and Rhetoric in Early Modern England

The Separation of the Citizen from the Self

Lynette Hunter

Volume 33 in the series Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501514241

Overview
Contents

About this book

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This book offers an interdisciplinary approach to concepts of the self associated with the development of humanism in England, and to strategies for both inclusion and exclusion in structuring the early modern nation state. It addresses writings about rhetoric and behavior from 1495–1660, beginning with Erasmus’ work on sermo or the conversational rhetoric between friends, which considers the reader as an ‘absent audience’, and following the transference of this stance to a politics whose broadening democratic constituency needed a legitimate structure for governance-at-a-distance.

Unusually, the book brings together the impact on behavior of these new concepts about rhetoric, with the growth of the publishing industry, and the emergence of capitalism and of modern medicine. It explores the effects on the formation of the ‘subject’ and political legitimation of the early liberal nation state. It also lays new ground for scholarship concerned with what is left out of both selfhood and politics by that state, studying examples of a parallel development of the ‘self’ defined by friendship not only from educated male writers, but also from women writers and writers concerned with socially ‘middling’ and laboring people and the poor.

Author / Editor information

Lynette Hunter, University of California, Davis, USA.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1 Sermo Rhetoric 1500–1560: Erasmus and the Rhetoric for an Absent Audience Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
Chapter 2 Civil Rhetoric 1530–1575: English Rhetoricians, the Nation, and the Person of Virtue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
Chapter 3 Civic Rhetoric 1560–1630: The Humors as a Guide to Trustworthy Behavior Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
Chapter 4 Civic Rhetoric 1560–1630: Sermo Rhetoric and Counsel as a Guide to Friendship and Conversation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
Chapter 5 Personal Rhetoric 1530–1660: Autodeixis as a Probable Rhetoric for the Written Self Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Chapter 6 Personal Rhetoric 1630–1660: Conversational Rhetoric: Co-generating Common Grounds for Non-Human People Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
Chapter 7 Concluding Conversation 1650–1730: Effeminacy, Women, and Chat Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	217

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Medieval Institute Publications
Audience: Medievalists, Scholars of English Literature and Rhetoric Studies
Pages
- Front matter: 7
- Main content: 223
Keywords: Rhetoric; Behavior; Citizenship in Early Modern England; Relational Identity; Friendship

eBook

Published: January 19, 2022
ISBN: 9781501514241

Hardcover

Published: January 31, 2022
ISBN: 9781501518577