Literature and Politics in the 1620s

By: Paul Salzman

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Synopsis: This exciting study of the literature of the 1620s argues that during the decade a huge range of writing and performance reflected the growing hunger of readers and audiences for political information and commentary mediated through literature. The comparatively neglected decade is reshaped by this book, which argues that literature was inextricably linked to politics, whether oppositional or authoritarian. A wide range of texts are analyzed, from Shakespeare's First Folio to Middleton's A Game At Chess, from romances and poetry to sermons, tracts and newsbooks. Salzman argues that the flow and counterflow of these texts was part of a cultivated practice of reading and writing, that politicized every moment as a contest of ideas. This is literary history at its most innovative and informative. Additional materials for Literature and Politics in the 1620s can be found here: http: //www. latrobe. edu. au/humanities/research/specialisations/literary-studies