Alien Albion: Literature and Immigration in Early Modern England
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Using both canonical and underappreciated texts, Alien Albion argues that early modern England was far less unified and xenophobic than literary critics have previously suggested. Juxtaposing literary texts from the period with legal, religious, and economic documents, Scott Oldenburg uncovers how immigrants to England forged ties with their English hosts and how those relationships were reflected in literature that imagined inclusive, multicultural communities.
Through discussions of civic pageantry, the plays of dramatists including William Shakespeare, Thomas Dekker, and Thomas Middleton, the poetry of Anne Dowriche, and the prose of Thomas Deloney, Alien Albion challenges assumptions about the origins of English national identity and the importance of religious, class, and local identities in the early modern era.
Product Details
- World Rights
- Page Count: 298 pages
- Dimensions: 6.0in x 0.7in x 9.0in
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Reviews
‘Highly recommended.’
J.D. Sharpe
Choice vol 52:08:2015‘Alien Albion not only tenders a thoughtful and engaging study of the various paradigms surrounding multicultural communities, but it also offers a timely and important contribution to studies of immigration in early modern literature.’
Ruben Espinosa
Renaissance Quarterly vol 69:01:2016‘Oldenburg presents a solid balance of primary and secondary historical sources in his overall analysis of English cultural adaptation to immigration, as well as engaging with relevant literary scholarship.’
Roger A. Ladd
Sixteenth Century Journal, vol 46:01:2016‘Alien Albion is a welcome and timely contribution, urging us to rethink the critical predominance of early modern nationhood.’
Madeline Bassnett
Renaissance and Reformation vol 38:03:2015“Alien Albion is a fascinating and significant new study of the complicated cultural representation of the nation in early modern England. Scott Oldenburg explores the faultline opened up by mass immigration in the late sixteenth century and asks whether the influx of diverse peoples made the English more xenophobic or more tolerant. The book will inspire all readers interested in questions of identity and breathes new life into debates about early modern nationality.”
Andrew Hadfield, School of English, University of Sussex“This nuanced, timely, and readable investigation sheds new light on the integration of European immigrants, particularly artisans, into early modern England.”
Sujata Iyengar, Department of English, University of Georgia -
Author Information
Scott Oldenburg is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Tulane University. -
Table of contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Forms of Multiculturalism in Early Modern England
I. Sectarian Inclusivity
Chapter 1. From the Dutch Acrobat to Hance Beerpot: Multicultural Mid-Tudor England.
Chapter 2. The Rhetoric of Religious Refuge Under Elizabeth III. Provincial Globalism
Chapter 3. Artisanal Tolerance: The Case of Thomas Deloney
Chapter 4. Language and Labor in Thomas Dekker’s Provincial GlobalismIII. Worldly Domesticity
Chapter 5. The “Jumbled” City: The Dutch Courtesan and Englishmen for My Money
Chapter 6. Shakespeare, the ForeignerConclusion: The Return of Hans Beer-Pot
Bibliography
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