Overview
- Examines previously ignored interactions and negotiations between conversion and rhetoric in both Protestant and Catholic narratives
- Places conversion at the heart of the structuring of the English language during a period in which English identities and cultural practices were being reformulated after the Reformation, and encounters with other lands and faith communities
- Brings together the concerns of spiritual autobiography, literary studies and rhetoric with a new emphasis upon conversion and reveals the literary complexity of conversion narratives
Part of the book series: Early Modern Literature in History (EMLH)
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About this book
This book is a study of English conversion narratives between 1580 and 1660. Focusing on the formal, stylistic properties of these texts, it argues that there is a direct correspondence between the spiritual and rhetorical turn. Furthermore, by focusing on a comparatively early period in the history of the conversion narrative the book charts for the first time writers’ experimentation and engagement with rhetorical theory before the genre’s relative stabilization in the 1650s. A cross confessional study analyzing work by both Protestant and Catholic writers, this book explores conversion’s relationship with reading; the links between conversion, eloquence, translation and trope; the conflation of spiritual movement with literal travel; and the use of the body as a site for spiritual knowledge and proof.
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Keywords
Table of contents (6 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Reviews
“Shinn’s Conversion Narratives in Early Modern England: Tales of Turning will be of interest to scholars of religious conversion, early modern rhetoric, and sacred travels.” (Danielle Sottosanti, Reading Religion, readingreligion.org, February 10, 2021)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Abigail Shinn is Lecturer in Early Modern Literature and Culture at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Conversion Narratives in Early Modern England
Book Subtitle: Tales of Turning
Authors: Abigail Shinn
Series Title: Early Modern Literature in History
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96577-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-96576-5Published: 17 October 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-07216-2Published: 31 January 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-96577-2Published: 04 October 2018
Series ISSN: 2634-5919
Series E-ISSN: 2634-5927
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 255
Topics: Early Modern/Renaissance Literature, British and Irish Literature, Theatre History, Christianity