Description
Book SynopsisFictions of Conversion investigates the anxieties produced by the rapid and erratic religious, political, and cultural transformations in early modern England, which were often given shape in poetry, plays, and translations by the figure of the Jewish converso.
Trade Review"Jeffrey Shoulson's smart, original book leads us to see hitherto unsuspected connections between early modern English concerns with "conversion" (both narrowly and broadly defined) and "the figure of Jew," encouraging others to follow the paths he has charted here." * AJS Review *
"
Fictions of Conversion is a timely and important book. Ambitious, beautifully written, and sweeping while not losing sight of historical context or of the telling detail, it offers a new analysis of a crucial topic, and connects that analysis to a number of compelling readings of literary works both familiar and less so." * Katherine Eggert, University of Colorado at Boulder *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Chapter 1. "The Jews Perverted and the Gentiles Converted": Confessions and Conversos
Chapter 2. "Thy People Shall Be My People": Typology, Gender, and Biblical Converts
Chapter 3. "The Meaning Not the Name I Call": Converting the Bible and Homer
Chapter 4. Alchemies of Conversion: Shakespeare, Jonson, Vaughan, and the Science of Jewish Transmutation
Chapter 5. Conversion and Enthusiasm: Radical Religion and the Poetics of Paradise Regained
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
