Politics of Discourse: The Literature and History of Seventeenth-Century England

The outstanding essays in this volume explore the interdependency of literature and history in seventeenth—century England. The relation of text to society is examined both as theory and as practice. The theoretical essays explore writing, reading, and the emergence of the aesthetic as historical phenomena of the seventeenth century. Other contributions examine cultural and political practices that fashioned the century: patronage, representations of authority, the socialization of party po...