Description
Book SynopsisConfronted by a public that seemed to be sunk in barbarism and violence, English writers including John Milton, John Dryden, and Aphra Behn imagined serious literature as an instrument for change.
Trade Review"Lines of Equity engages a set of ideas that have long fascinated scholars of seventeenth-century England. Visconsi's interpretation of Milton's Satan as a charismatic law-giver who seeks to ground the law in a specific historical moment—rather than in the equitable recovery of the diffuse spirit of God—is itself almost worth the price of admission."—Andrew Escobedo, Ohio University
"Elliott Visconsi has written an original and powerful account of the fictionalization of law in seventeenth-century English literature and culture. His book offers a major reconsideration of the notion of equity and the remaking of English national identity in later seventeenth-century England, especially in the context of the crises of the regicide and the Restoration. Examining the ethical ambiguities of equity in relation to questions of justice, law, and the nature of government, the book includes illuminating new readings of such authors as Milton, Dryden, and Aphra Behn. It will be warmly welcomed by literary scholars, historians, and scholars interested in the intersections between law and literature."—David Loewenstein, Marjorie and Lorin Tiefenthaler Professor of English and Director, Center for Early Modern Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison
