Description

Book Synopsis

The Enthusiast tells the story of a character type that was developed in early modern Britain to discredit radical prophets during an era that witnessed the dismantling of the Church of England''s traditional means for punishing heresy. As William Cook Miller shows, the caricature of fanaticism here called the Enthusiast began as propaganda against religious dissenters, especially working-class upstarts, but was adopted by a range of writers as a literary vehicle for exploring profound problems of spirit, soul, and body and as a persona for the ironic expression of their own prophetic illuminations.

Taking shape through the public and private writings of some of the most insightful authors of seventeenth-century BritainHenry More, John Locke, the Third Earl of Shaftesbury, Mary Astell, and Jonathan Swift, among othersthe Enthusiast appeared in various guises and literary modes.

By attending to this literary being and its animators, The Enthusias

The Enthusiast

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    A Hardback by William Cook Miller

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      Publisher: Cornell University Press
      Publication Date: 15/07/2023
      ISBN13: 9781501770807, 978-1501770807
      ISBN10: 1501770802
      Also in:
      The arts: general topics

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      The Enthusiast tells the story of a character type that was developed in early modern Britain to discredit radical prophets during an era that witnessed the dismantling of the Church of England''s traditional means for punishing heresy. As William Cook Miller shows, the caricature of fanaticism here called the Enthusiast began as propaganda against religious dissenters, especially working-class upstarts, but was adopted by a range of writers as a literary vehicle for exploring profound problems of spirit, soul, and body and as a persona for the ironic expression of their own prophetic illuminations.

      Taking shape through the public and private writings of some of the most insightful authors of seventeenth-century BritainHenry More, John Locke, the Third Earl of Shaftesbury, Mary Astell, and Jonathan Swift, among othersthe Enthusiast appeared in various guises and literary modes.

      By attending to this literary being and its animators, The Enthusias

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