Praise and Paradox: Merchants and Craftsmen in Elizabethan Popular Literature

Přední strana obálky
Cambridge University Press, 22. 8. 2002 - Počet stran: 268
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.
 

Obsah

Elizabethan popular literature and its economic context
11
The popular Elizabethan authors
40
The popular Elizabethan audience
51
THE BUSINESSMAN IN ARMOUR
75
Principal citizens and chief yeomen
77
The merchant as usurer a stock image in decline
92
The merchant as knight courtier and prince
107
Lessons in diligence and thrift
131
Clown and rebel the craftsman as one of the fourth sort of people
161
The gentle craftsman in Arcadia
180
Elizabethan popular literature
214
The popular authors
233
Topical breakdown of Elizabethan popular literature
244
Chronological list of popular works in which merchants appear
246
Index
249
Autorská práva

THE GENTLE CRAFTSMAN
159

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