The Cankered Muse: Satire Of The English Renaissance
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Yellowed
In the turbulent literary world of Elizabethan and Jacobean England, satire was not a gentle art — it was a weapon, and The Cankered Muse by Alvin Kernan stands as the definitive study of how that weapon was forged and wielded. This scholarly work chronicles the development of formal verse satire during the English Renaissance, tracing the tradition from its classical roots through the works of major figures such as John Skelton, John Marston, and Ben Jonson, illuminating the complex social and moral forces that shaped one of literature's most corrosive and vital genres. Kernan argues with precision and authority that Renaissance satirists constructed a distinctive persona — the outraged moralist — whose voice and posture were as carefully crafted as any fictional character. Drawing on a wealth of primary texts, he illustrates how this satiric tradition both reflected and challenged the anxieties of an age caught between medieval tradition and modern ambition. A landmark in Renaissance scholarship, The Cankered Muse raises a provocative question that lingers long after the final page: when society itself becomes the subject of ridicule, who, ultimately, escapes the satirist's gaze?
Author: Alvin Kernan
Format: Hardback
Genre: Literary theory
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Yellowed
In the turbulent literary world of Elizabethan and Jacobean England, satire was not a gentle art — it was a weapon, and The Cankered Muse by Alvin Kernan stands as the definitive study of how that weapon was forged and wielded. This scholarly work chronicles the development of formal verse satire during the English Renaissance, tracing the tradition from its classical roots through the works of major figures such as John Skelton, John Marston, and Ben Jonson, illuminating the complex social and moral forces that shaped one of literature's most corrosive and vital genres. Kernan argues with precision and authority that Renaissance satirists constructed a distinctive persona — the outraged moralist — whose voice and posture were as carefully crafted as any fictional character. Drawing on a wealth of primary texts, he illustrates how this satiric tradition both reflected and challenged the anxieties of an age caught between medieval tradition and modern ambition. A landmark in Renaissance scholarship, The Cankered Muse raises a provocative question that lingers long after the final page: when society itself becomes the subject of ridicule, who, ultimately, escapes the satirist's gaze?