Conversion Narratives in Early Modern England: Tales of Turning

by Abigail Shinn

Overview

This book is a study of English conversion narratives between 1580 and 1660. Focusing on the formal, stylistic properties of these texts, it argues that there is a direct correspondence between the spiritual and rhetorical turn. Furthermore, by focusing on a comparatively early period in the history of the conversion narrative the book charts for the first time writers’ experimentation and engagement with rhetorical theory before the genre’s relative stabilization in the 1650s. A cross confessional study analyzing work by both Protestant and Catholic writers, this book explores conversion’s relationship with reading; the links between conversion, eloquence, translation and trope; the conflation of spiritual movement with literal travel; and the use of the body as a site for spiritual knowledge and proof.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030072162
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	01/31/2019
Series:	Early Modern Literature in History
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2018
Pages:	255
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Abigail Shinn is Lecturer in Early Modern Literature and Culture at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.

Table of Contents

Introduction.- Chapter 1: The Convert and the Book.- Chapter Two: Crafting the Convert.- Chapter 3: Narrative Topographies and the Geographies of Conversion.- Chapter 4: Corporeal Rhetoric: Perception and Proof in the Conversion Narrative.- Bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

Shinn’s Conversion Narratives in Early Modern England: Tales of Turning will be of interest to scholars of religious conversion, early modern rhetoric, and sacred travels.” (Danielle Sottosanti, Reading Religion, readingreligion.org, February 10, 2021)

From the Publisher