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Who during the Renaissance could have dissented from the values of reason and restraint, patience and humility, rejection of the worldly and the physical? These widely articulated values were part of the inherited Christian tradition and were reinforced by key elements in the Renaissance, especially the revival of Stoicism and Platonism. This book is devoted to those who did dissent from them. Richard Strier reveals that many long-recognized major texts did question the most traditional values and uncovers a Renaissance far more bumptious and affirmative than much recent scholarship has allowed. The Unrepentant Renaissance counters the prevalent view of the period as dominated by the regulation of bodies and passions, aiming to reclaim the Renaissance as an era happily churning with surprising, worldly, and self-assertive energies. Reviving the perspective of Jacob Burckhardt and Nietzsche, Strier provides fresh and uninhibited readings of texts by Petrarch, More, Shakespeare, Ignatius Loyola, Montaigne, Descartes, and Milton. Strier’s lively argument will stir debate throughout the field of Renaissance studies.
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The Unrepentant Renaissance
The Unrepentant Renaissance from petrarch to shakespeare to m i lto n
Richard Strier
The University of Chicago Pressâ•… c h i c a g o & l o n d o n
r i c h a r d s t r i e r is the Frank L. Sulzberger Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of English and in the College at the University of Chicago. He has coedited several interdisciplinary essay collections and is the author of many articles and two books, Resistant Structures: Particularity, Radicalism, and Renaissance Texts and Love Known: Theology and Experience in George Herbert’s Poetry, the latter published by the University of Chicago Press. The University ofâ•› Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2011 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2011. Printed in the United States of America 20╇ 19╇ 18╇ 17╇ 16╇ 15╇ 14╇ 13╇ 12╇ 11â•…â•…â•… 1╇ 2╇ 3╇ 4╇ 5 isbn-13: 978-0-226-77751-1 (cloth) isbn-10: 0-226-77751-0 (cloth) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Strier, Richard. â•… The unrepentant Renaissance : from Petrarch to Shakespeare to Milton / Richard Strier. â•…â•… p.â•…â•… cm. â•… Includes bibliographical references and index. â•… isbn-13: 978-0-226-77751-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) â•… isbn-10: 0-226-77751-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)â•… 1. European literature—Renaissance, 1450–1600—History and criticism.╇ 2. English literature—Early modern, 1500–1700— History and criticism.╇ 3. Petrarca, Francesco, 1304–1374—Criticism and interpretation.╇ 4. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Criticism and interpretation.â•… I. Title. â•… PN721.s835 2011 â•… 809'.89409024—dc22 2010050570 a This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
To my students, over the years, in “Renaissance Intellectual Texts” at the University of Chicago
contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Back to Burckhardt (Plus the Reformations)
1
pa r t 1 ╇ In Defense of Passion and the Body 1 Against the Rule of Reason: Praise of Passion from Petrarch to Luther to Shakespeare to Herbert
29
2 Against Judgment: Petrarch and Shakespeare at Sonnets
59
3 Against Morality: From Richard III to Antony and Cleopatra a p p e n d i x 1 ╇ Shakespearean Seduction a p p e n d i x 2 ╇ Morality and the Happy Infant: The Case of Macbeth
98 125 132
pa r t 2 ╇ In Defense of Worldliness 4 Sanctifying the Bourgeoisie: The Cultural Work of The Comedy of Errors a p p e n d i x ╇ Sanctifying the Aristocracy: From Ignatius Loyola to François de Sales (and then to Donne and Herbert)