Shinn, Abigail. Conversion narratives in early modern England : tales of turning

Folger bibliographic ID: 357347
Folger call number: PR408.C47 S55 2018
Folger holdings ID: 505466

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

General notes

Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-244) and index 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

Contents

Introduction: Tales of Turning -- Take Up and Read: The Convert and the Book -- Converting Souls and Words: Tropes, Eloquence and Translation -- Narrative Topographies and the Geographies of Conversion -- Witnessing the Body: Corporeal Conversions -- Conclusion: Bunyan's Turn

Extended title: Conversion narratives in early modern England : tales of turning / Abigail Shinn

Conversion in literature English literature 18.05 English literature

author: Shinn, Abigail