Sinister Aesthetics The Appeal of Evil in Early Modern English Literature

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Synopsis

This engrossing volume studies the poetics of evil in early modern English culture, reconciling the Renaissance belief that literature should uphold morality with the compelling and attractive representations of evil throughout the period’s literature. The chapters explore a variety of texts, including Spenser’s Faerie Queene, Shakespeare’s Richard III, broadside ballads, and sermons, culminating in a new reading of Paradise Lost and a novel understanding of the dynamic interaction between aesthetics and theology in shaping seventeenth century Protestant piety. Through these discussions, the book introduces the concept of “sinister aesthetics”: artistic conventions that can make representations of the villainous, monstrous, or hellish pleasurable.

Book details

Author:
Joel Elliot Slotkin
ISBN:
9783319527970
Related ISBNs:
9783319527963
Publisher:
Springer International Publishing
Pages:
N/A
Reading age:
Not specified
Includes images:
No
Date of addition:
2017-08-31
Usage restrictions:
Copyright
Copyright date:
2017
Copyright by:
N/A 
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Categories:
Language Arts, Literature and Fiction