Description
Book SynopsisFor readers interested in exploring the history ofemotional responses to suffering, this volume describes the theory and practice of compassion in the context of early modern Europe's sectarian strife, and will engage those looking to make connections between early modern history and our present political moment.
Trade Review'… a convincing alternative to rigorous compassion scepticism …' James Waddell, Modern Language Review
'Its commendable coherence is determined by both the central theme and the well-thought-through structure, which supports the topic's conceptualization … the volume is a valuable contribution on a timely topic …' Mirosława Hanusiewicz-Lavallee, Journal of Jesuit Studies
Table of ContentsIntroduction Kristine Steenbergh and Katherine Ibbett; Part I. Theorizing: 1. The ethics of compassion in early modern England Bruce R. Smith; 2. The compassionate self of the Catholic Reformation Katherine Ibbett; Part II. Consoling: 3. 'Hee left them not comfortlesse by the way': grief and compassion in early modern English consolatory culture Paula Barros; 4. Friendship, counsel, and compassion in early modern medical thought Stephen Pender; Part III. Exhorting: 5. 'Compassion and mercie draw teares from the godlyfull often': the rhetoric of sympathy in the early modern sermon Richard Meek; 6. Mollified hearts and enlarged bowels: practising compassion in reformation England Kristine Steenbergh; Part IV. Performing: 7. Civic liberties and community compassion: the Jesuit drama of Poland-Lithuania Clarinda E. Calma and Jolanta Rzegocka; 8. Compassion, contingency and conversion in James Shirley's The Sisters Alison Searle; Part V. Responding: 9. Mountainish inhumanity in Illyria: compassion in Twelfth Night as social luxury and political duty Elisabetta Tarantino; 10. Standing on a beach: Shakespeare and the sympathetic imagination Eric Langley; Part VI. Giving: 11. 'To feel what wretches feel': Reformation and the re-naming of English compassion Toria Johnson; 12. Alms petitions and compassion in sixteenth-century London Rebecca Tomlin; Part VII. Racializing: 13. Pity and empire in the Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias (1552) Matthew Goldmark; 14. 'Our Black hero': compassion for friends and others in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko John Staines; Part VIII. Contemporary Compassions: 15. Contemporary compassions: interrelating in the Anthropocene Kristine Steenbergh.
