Sympathy in Early Modern Literature and Culture

Meek, Richard

Abstract

Book description:
This is the first comprehensive study of sympathy in the early modern period, providing a deeply researched and interdisciplinary examination of its development in Anglophone literature and culture. It argues that the term sympathy was used to refer to an active and imaginative sharing of affect considerably earlier than previous critical and historical accounts have suggested. Investigating a wide range of texts and genres, including prose fiction, sermons, poetic complaint, drama, political tracts, and scientific treatises, Richard Meek demonstrates the ways in which sympathy in the period is bound up with larger debates about society, religion, and identity. He also reveals the extent to which early modern emotions were not simply humoral or grounded in the body, but rather relational, comparative, and intertextual. This volume will be of particular interest to scholars and students of Renaissance literature and history, the history of emotions, and the history and philosophy of science.

Citation

Meek, R. (2023). Sympathy in Early Modern Literature and Culture. Cambridge University Press (CUP). https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009280259

• Book Type: Monograph
• Online Publication Date: Apr 27, 2023
• Publication Date: Apr 13, 2023
• Deposit Date: Oct 7, 2024
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• ISBN: 9781009280259; 9781009280266; 9781009280242
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009280259
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4401749