Writing Conscience and the Nation in Revolutionary England
© 2017
Examining works by well-known figures of the English Revolution, including John Milton, Oliver Cromwell, Margaret Fell Fox, Lucy Hutchinson, Thomas Hobbes, and King Charles I, Giuseppina Iacono Lobo presents the first comprehensive study of conscience during this crucial and turbulent period.
Writing Conscience and the Nation in Revolutionary England argues that the discourse of conscience emerged as a means of critiquing, discerning, and ultimately reimagining the nation during the English Revolution. Focusing on the etymology of the term conscience, to know with, this book demonstrates how the idea of a shared knowledge uniquely equips conscience with the potential to forge dynamic connections between the self and nation, a potential only amplified by the surge in conscience writing in the mid-seventeenth-century. Iacono Lobo recovers a larger cultural discourse at the heart of which is a revolution of conscience itself through her readings of poetry, prose, political pamphlets and philosophy, letters, and biography. This revolution of conscience is marked by a distinct and radical connection between conscience and the nation as writers struggle to redefine, reimagine, and even render anew what it means to know with as an English people.Product Details
- World Rights
- Page Count: 264 pages
- Dimensions: 6.3in x 0.9in x 9.3in
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Reviews
"This is an important and perceptive book which sheds new light on individual authors’ engagements with these issues through close textual analysis…"
G. Mahlberg, Berlin
The English Historical Review, vol 134 no 568"This is an important and innovative work. It displays very high standards of scholarship and analysis, is original in conception and approach, and makes a significant and stimulating contribution to its field. The arguments are persuasive, often compelling, and are presented clearly and cogently."
Bernard Capp, Department of History, University of Warwick"Writing Conscience and the Nation in Revolutionary England is an excellent study, one which will contribute significantly to scholarship on writing, religion, and politics in the English Revolution. It is persuasive, illuminating, and clearly written."
David Loewenstein, Department of English, Pennsylvania State University at University Park -
Author Information
Giuseppina Iacono Lobo is an assistant professor in the Department of English at Loyola University Maryland. -
Table of contents
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Revolutions of Conscience
Chapter 1: Charles I, Eikon Basilike, and the Pulpit-Work of the King’s Conscience
Chapter 2: Oliver Cromwell and the Duties of Conscience
Chapter 3: Early Quaker Writing and the Unifying Light of Conscience
Chapter 4: Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan and the Civilizing Force of Conscience
Chapter 5: Lucy Hutchinson’s Revisions of Conscience
Chapter 6: Milton’s Nation of Conscience
Afterword
Notes
Bibliography
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Subjects and Courses
