ENGLISH

Praise and Paradox: Merchants and Craftsmen in Elizabethan Popular Literature (Past and Present Publications)

By Laura Caroline Stevenson

Book information

Year
1985
ISBN
9780521265065, 9780511522833, 0521522072, 0521265061, 0511522835, 9780521522076
LCC
PR428.P65 S7 1984
Open Library ID
OL2868151M
Language
english
Format
DJVU
Filesize
1 MB (1504011 bytes)
Pages
267\267
Topic
Literature Literary
DPI
300
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

Praise and Paradox explores the relationship of language, literary structure, and social ideology in the popular Elizabethan literature that praised merchants, industrialists and craftsmen. Part I defines a canon of 296 popular vernacular works, relates the increasing popularity of tales about tradesmen to the development of the English economy and the expansion of the Elizabethan audience, and discusses the social origins of the popular authors. Part II is concerned with the change of the merchant's literary image from that of a greedy usurer to that of a 'businessman in armour' who defended his monarch on the battlefield and entertained princes at lavish banquets. Part III discusses the change in the literary image of the craftsman, who ceased to be a clown or a rebel and became a 'gentle craftsman' who fought bravely on the battlefield when necessary but was happier in his humble shop, where he sang, danced, and courted pretty girls.

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