Literature and the Idea of Luxury in Early Modern England

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Theory
Cover of the book Literature and the Idea of Luxury in Early Modern England by Alison V. Scott, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Alison V. Scott ISBN: 9781317104377
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: May 6, 2016
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Alison V. Scott
ISBN: 9781317104377
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: May 6, 2016
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

Exploring the idea of luxury in relation to a series of neighboring but distinct concepts including avarice, excess, licentiousness, indulgence, vitality, abundance, and waste, this study combines intellectual and cultural historical methods to trace discontinuities in luxury’s conceptual development in seventeenth-century England. The central argument is that, as ’luxury’ was gradually Englished in seventeenth-century culture, it developed political and aesthetic meanings that connect with eighteenth-century debates even as they oppose their so-called demoralizing thrust. Alison Scott closely examines the meanings of luxury in early modern English culture through literary and rhetorical uses of the idea. She argues that, while ’luxury’ could and often did denote merely ’lust’ or ’licentiousness’ as it tends to be glossed by modern editors of contemporary works, its cultural lexicon was in fact more complex and fluid than that at this time. Moreover, that fuller understanding of its plural and shifting meanings-as they are examined here-has implications for the current intellectual history of the idea in Western thought. The existing narrative of luxury’s conceptual development is one of progressive upward transformation, beginning with the rise of economic liberalism amidst eighteenth-century debates; it is one that assumes essential continuity between the medieval treatment of luxury as the sin of ’luxuria’ and early modern notions of the idea even as social practises of luxury explode in early seventeenth-century culture.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Exploring the idea of luxury in relation to a series of neighboring but distinct concepts including avarice, excess, licentiousness, indulgence, vitality, abundance, and waste, this study combines intellectual and cultural historical methods to trace discontinuities in luxury’s conceptual development in seventeenth-century England. The central argument is that, as ’luxury’ was gradually Englished in seventeenth-century culture, it developed political and aesthetic meanings that connect with eighteenth-century debates even as they oppose their so-called demoralizing thrust. Alison Scott closely examines the meanings of luxury in early modern English culture through literary and rhetorical uses of the idea. She argues that, while ’luxury’ could and often did denote merely ’lust’ or ’licentiousness’ as it tends to be glossed by modern editors of contemporary works, its cultural lexicon was in fact more complex and fluid than that at this time. Moreover, that fuller understanding of its plural and shifting meanings-as they are examined here-has implications for the current intellectual history of the idea in Western thought. The existing narrative of luxury’s conceptual development is one of progressive upward transformation, beginning with the rise of economic liberalism amidst eighteenth-century debates; it is one that assumes essential continuity between the medieval treatment of luxury as the sin of ’luxuria’ and early modern notions of the idea even as social practises of luxury explode in early seventeenth-century culture.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book The Changing Face of Government Information by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book Race(ing) Intercultural Communication by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book Shakespearean Genealogies of Power by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book China and Global Value Chains by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book Childbirth in the Global Village by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book Implementing Sustainability by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book Indigenous Archaeologies by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book International Organizations and the Implementation of the Responsibility to Protect by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book Argument as Dialogue Across Difference by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book Tourism and the Lodging Sector by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book Small Schools by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book The National Banks and American Economic Development, 1870-1900 by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book Social Cognition, Social Identity, and Intergroup Relations by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book How to Create the Inclusive Classroom by Alison V. Scott
Cover of the book Social Identity in Question by Alison V. Scott
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy