Early Modern Histories of Time: The Periodizations of Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century England

by Kristen Poole (Editor), Owen Williams (Editor)

Overview

Early Modern Histories of Time examines how a range of chronological modes intrinsic to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries shaped the thought-worlds of those living during this time and explores how these temporally indigenous models can productively influence our own working concepts of historical period. This innovative approach thus moves beyond debates about where we should divide linear time (and what to call the ensuing segments) to reconsider the very concept of "period." Bringing together an eminent cast of literary scholars and historians, the volume develops productive historical models by drawing on the very texts and cultural contexts that are their objects of study. What happens to the idea of "period" when English literature is properly placed within the dynamic currents of pan-European literary phenomena? How might we think of historical period through the palimpsested nature of buildings, through the religious concept of the secular, through the demographic model of the life cycle, even through the repetitive labor of laundering? From theology to material culture to the temporal constructions of Shakespeare, and from the politics of space to the poetics of typology, the essays in this volume take up diverse, complex models of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century temporality and contemplate their current relevance for our own ideas of history. The volume thus embraces the ambiguity inherent in the word "contemporary," moving between our subjects' sense of self-emplacement and the historiographical need to address the questions and concerns that affect us today.

Contributors: Douglas Bruster, Euan Cameron, Heather Dubrow, Kate Giles, Tim Harris, Natasha Korda, Julia Reinhard Lupton, Kristen Poole, Ethan H. Shagan, James Simpson, Nigel Smith, Mihoko Suzuki, Gordon Teskey, Julianne Werlin, Owen Williams, Steven N. Zwicker.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812251524
Publisher:	University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication date:	10/11/2019
Series:	Published in cooperation with the Folger Shakespeare Library
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Kristen Poole is the Blue and Gold Distinguished Professor of English Renaissance Literature at the University of Delaware. Her previous books include Supernatural Environments in Shakespeare's England and Radical Religion from Shakespeare to Milton: Figures of Nonconformity in Early Modern England. Owen Williams is Associate Director for Scholarly Programs, Folger Institute, Folger Shakespeare Library.

Table of Contents

Introduction Kristen Poole Owen Williams 1

Periodization in Historiography and literary studies: An Overview

Chapter 1 Periodizing the Early Modern: The Historians View Tim Harris 21

Chapter 2 Time Boundaries and Time Shifts in Early Modern Literary Studies Nigel Smith 36

Part I Religion

Chapter 3 How Early Modern Church Historians Defined Periods in History Euan Cameron 55

Chapter 4 Periodization and the Secular Ethan H. Shagan 72

Chapter 5 Trans-Reformation English Literary History James Simpson 88

Part II Materiality

Chapter 6 Time and Place in Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon Kate Giles 105

Chapter 7 Much Ado About Ruffs: Laundry Time in Feminist Counter-Archives Natasha Korda 124

Part III Poetics

Chapter 8 The Period Concept and Seventeenth-Century Poetry Gordon Teskey 145

Chapter 9 Love Poetry and Periodization Julianne Werlin 163

Part IV Shakespeare

Chapter 10 Shakespeare, Period Douglas Bruster 181

Chapter 11 Periodic Shakespeare Julia Reinhard Lupton 198

Part V Self-Emplacement

Chapter 12 John Dryden and Restoration Time: Writing the Self Within Time, Through Time, Beyond Time Steven N. Zwicker 215

Chapter 13 Did the English Seventeenth Century Really End at 1660? Subaltern Perspectives on the Continuing Impact of the English Civil Wars Mihoko Suzuki 230

Part VI Beyond Time

Chapter 14 Space Travel: Spatiality and/or Temporality in the Study of Periodization Heather Dubrow 251

Chapter 15 Always, Already, Again: Toward a New Typological Historiography Kristen Poole 267

Notes 283

List of Contributors 337

Index 341

Acknowledgments 361

Editorial Reviews

"Early Modern Histories of Time is a tremendously exciting and genuinely multidisciplinary collection of essays by historically engaged literary scholars juxtaposed with excellent contributions from political, religious, and archaeological historians."

University of Connecticut Evelyn Tribble

"This fascinating and thought-provoking collection represents a significant intervention into how we conceptualize periodization. Considering on the one hand how scholars work within historical periods and on the other hand how people in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries conceived of time, Early Modern Histories of Time radically questions how we organize history and the assumptions that we make when applying temporal divisions to the past."

The Spenser Review

"A provocative and illuminating volume. Its breadth of topics and approaches adds to its utility and appeal not only for literary scholars but also for historians. It will be the standard reference on historical periodization for years to come."

Northeastern Illinois University Zachary S. Schiffman

"All the essays in the book make as much use of the concept of 'period' and 'periodization' as possible. The essays approach the writing of a literary history through engaging with historiography and their practitioners, as starting points. The breadth of the critical vision, the magnitude of the task handled, and the inclusion of many original angles will make this book invaluable for anyone writing a literary history, writing about a literary history, and thinking about the very nature of literary and cultural histories in the early modern period."

Renaissance and Reformation

"The scope of this volume is ambitious. Poole and Williams explain that they aim to explore both how modern scholars use ‘the idea of historical periods’ and how the early moderns ‘understood chronology, antecedent, and temporal division...[T]he volume makes its readers aware of just how engrained periodisation is in modern academic thought and how difficult it is to constructively overcome its boundaries. That in itself is a valuable contribution and its contents will be of interest to any scholars interested in the ongoing debates concerning periodisation, its known shortcomings, and its possible revisions."

Erudition and the Republic of Letters

"Early Modern Histories of Time is a tremendously exciting and genuinely multidisciplinary collection of essays by historically engaged literary scholars juxtaposed with excellent contributions from political, religious, and archaeological historians."

Universityof Connecticut Evelyn Tribble

"All the essays in the book make as much use of the concept of 'period' and 'periodization' as possible. The essays approach the writing of a literary history through engaging with historiography and their practitioners, as starting points. The breadth of the critical vision, the magnitude of the task handled, and the inclusion of many original angles will make this book invaluable for anyone writing a literary history, writing about a literary history, and thinking about the very nature of literary and cultural histories in the early modern period."—Renaissance and Reformation

"A provocative and illuminating volume. Its breadth of topics and approaches adds to its utility and appeal not only for literary scholars but also for historians. It will be the standard reference on historical periodization for years to come."—Zachary S. Schiffman, Northeastern Illinois University

"Early Modern Histories of Time is a tremendously exciting and genuinely multidisciplinary collection of essays by historically engaged literary scholars juxtaposed with excellent contributions from political, religious, and archaeological historians."—Evelyn Tribble, University of Connecticut

From the Publisher