Routledge Masculinity and Emotion in Early Modern English Literature (Women and Gender in the Early Modern World)

The first full length treatment of how men of different professions, social ranks and ages are empowered by their emotional expressiveness in early modern English literary works, this study examines the profound impact of the cultural shift in the English aristocracy from feudal warriors to emotionally expressive courtiers or gentlemen on all kinds of men in early modern English literature. Jennifer Vaught bases her analysis on the epic, lyric, and romance as well as on drama, pastoral writings and biography, by Shakespeare, Spenser, Sidney, Marlowe, Jonson and Garrick among other writers. Offering new readings of these works, she traces the gradual emergence of men of feeling during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, to the blossoming of this literary version of manhood during the eighteenth century. Review '....contributes to the growing critical discussion of early modern masculinity and complements studies already in print of femininity and affect in the period.' Patricia Phillippy, Texas A&M University, USA ’Masculinity and Emotion in Early Modern English Literature makes a significant addition to the study of affect, feeling, emotions and mood in various disciplines over the last fifteen to twenty years. ...Vaught makes a strong case for the nuanced valuation of masculine emotional expressiveness (strong or otherwise) in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English culture. ...It is a mark of the book’s clarity of focus and admirably incremental argumentation that this material seems, not just fresh, but also up to the task of providing something of a finale.’ Parergon ’Vaught not only explores gender within the early modern period but considers how postmodern theory might rethink agency in relation to particular cultural and historical contexts. I would recommend this book to students, scholars, or readers interested in the field. It is well worth study.’ Renaissance Quarterly About the Author Jennifer C. Vaught is Jean-Jacques and Aurore Labbé Fournet / Board of Regents Professor in English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA.