Overview

Challenging the tendency to disparage Nashe's writing as the product of an eccentric sensibility and to explain his texts in journalistic terms more appropriate to modern commercial publishing, this work provides an entirely new interpretation of the economic context of sixteenth-century literature. Lorna Hutson reveals hitherto overlooked links between humanist approaches to the literary text and the transformation of the English economy through humanist-inspired policies of ethical and social reform; from this context, Nashe's textual prodigality emerges as an assault upon the contemporary impoverishment of literary activity caused by the political over-valuing of the printed word. Generic precedents turn out to be festive; each of Nashe's apparently unstructured pamphlets derives shaping energy from traditions of popular-festive mockery. The pamphlets bring an older conception of seasonal prosperity into subversive dialogue with the newer discourse of provident individualism. For Nashe, stylistic experiment is shown to mean more than a choice of style; it is, rather, the expression of an intricate, socially engaged imagination.

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9780198128762

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Acute, knowledgeable, and suggestive....The state-of-the-art contextualization of Nashe in the present crtical phase. --Modern Philology What distinguishes Hutson's work is her earnest effort to read Nashe's texts, as her title promises, in contexts that make them meaningful in terms of broader questions of education and politics at the end of the sixteenth century. --Journal of English and Germanic Philology

Acute, knowledgeable, and suggestive....The state-of-the-art contextualization of Nashe in the present crtical phase. --Modern Philology What distinguishes Hutson's work is her earnest effort to read Nashe's texts, as her title promises, in contexts that make them meaningful in terms of broader questions of education and politics at the end of the sixteenth century. --Journal of English and Germanic Philology

Acute, knowledgeable, and suggestive....The state-of-the-art contextualization of Nashe in the present crtical phase. --Modern Philology<br> What distinguishes Hutson's work is her earnest effort to read Nashe's texts, as her title promises, in contexts that make them meaningful in terms of broader questions of education and politics at the end of the sixteenth century. --Journal of English and Germanic Philology<br>

"`To Hutson's credit, she is largely successful, avoiding both excessive topicality and the subordination of Nashe's style to the content she teases out.' Alexandra Halasz, Journal of English and Germanic Philology 4/92 'ambitious and original book ...In its subtle and resourceful combination of historical and theoretical interests, Thomas Nashe in Context marks an exceptionally distinguished contribution to Renaissance studies with implications that go a long way beyond the immediate topic.' David Norbrook, Magdalen College, Oxford, The Review of English Studies, Volume XLII, Number 165, February 1991 `Hutson's use of economic theory, most directly retailed in Chapter 4, proves a powerful search-light for illuminating a number of Nashe's works and is relevant beyond the confines of Nashe studies ... Much of Nashe's stylistic acrobatics may look on first acquaintance like mere entertainment, but at its best the style reflects a set of extreme convictions deeply held. We owe to this study a fresh insight into the nature of these convictions and the ""context"" to which they were the reaction.' Anglia"

`Hutson's use of economic theory, most directly retailed in Chapter 4, proves a powerful search-light for illuminating a number of Nashe's works and is relevant beyond the confines of Nashe studies ... Much of Nashe's stylistic acrobatics may look on first acquaintance like mere entertainment, but at its best the style reflects a set of extreme convictions deeply held. We owe to this study a fresh insight into the nature of these convictions and the context to which they were the reaction.' Anglia 'ambitious and original book ...In its subtle and resourceful combination of historical and theoretical interests, Thomas Nashe in Context marks an exceptionally distinguished contribution to Renaissance studies with implications that go a long way beyond the immediate topic.' David Norbrook, Magdalen College, Oxford, The Review of English Studies, Volume XLII, Number 165, February 1991 `To Hutson's credit, she is largely successful, avoiding both excessive topicality and the subordination of Nashe's style to the content she teases out.' Alexandra Halasz, Journal of English and Germanic Philology 4/92

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