Description
Book SynopsisThis study utilises John Donne’s works concerning the Jacobean Settlement as a contextualised case study to examine a seriously pressing issue in contemporary society: the issue of Catholic loyalism post-1603 and the disputes that thistopic sparked over the matter of conformity.Altman examines Donne’s polemic in line with the vast expanse of literature relating to the pamphlet war and situates Donne’s arguments within a strong contemporary tradition of conformist thought. Within this context, the study argues that Donne articulated a theory of royal absolutism that would have struck home with many contemporaries who, whether Catholic or not, were faced with a regime determined to bring them into conformity. It further contends that the religio-political standpoint represented by Donne was not only fairly obvious to the English state but was also widely accepted by it.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Situating John Donne within post-Reformation studies
1 Absolutism and the moderation of religion
2 Resistance theory, tyrannicide and the trope of the ‘Evil Jesuit’
3 Volunteerism and self- sovereignty in discourses on martyrdom
Conclusion: John Donne studies and the “Revisionist” paradigm
Index
