Cedric C. Brown combines the study of literature and social history
in order to recognize the immense importance of friendship bonds to
early modern society. Drawing on new archival research, he
acknowledges a wide range of types of friendship, from the intimate
to the obviously instrumental, and sees these practices as often
co-terminous with gift exchange. Failure to recognize the
inter-connected range of a friendship spectrum has hitherto limited
the adequacy of some modern studies of friendship, often weighted
towards the intimate or gendered-related issues. This book focusses
both on friendships represented in imaginative works and on lived
friendships in many textual and material forms, in an attempt to
recognize cultural environments and functions. In order to provide
depth and coherence, case histories have been selected from the
middle and later parts of the seventeenth century. Nevertheless
many kinds of bond are recognized, as between patron and client,
mentor and pupil, within the family, within marriage, in courtship,
or according to fashionable refined friendship theory. Both
humanist and religious values systems are registered, and
friendships are configured in cross-gendered and same-sex
relationships. Theories of friendship are also included. Apart from
written documents, the range of 'texts' extends to keepsakes,
pictures, funerary monument and memorial garden features. Figures
discussed at length include Henry More and the Finch/Conway family,
John Evelyn, Jeremy Taylor, Elizabeth Carey/Mordaunt, John Milton,
Charles Diodati, Cyriac Skinner, Dorothy Osborne/Temple, William
Temple, Lord Arlington, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, and Katherine
Phillips and her circle, especially Anne Owen/Trevor and Sir
Charles Cotterell.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!