Dialogue in Late Medieval and Early Modern England, c. 1400-1680 (Oxford Studies in Medieval Literature and Culture)

This book is the first major study of dialogue in England from the fifteenth to the late seventeenth century: a 'golden age' of dialogue, and a crucial period for its development.The spread of humanist education placed a premium on classical forms (including dialogue), whilst the discourse of commonweal had natural affinities with a literary model that evoked, at least on paper, a sense of polyvocality and participation.The arrival of the printing press and increasing levels of literacy also impacted on dialogue, altering expectations about the audience addressed and the forms dialogue took.The book thus traces significant evolutions, including the influence of culturally prominent texts, such as Baldassare Castiglione's Courtier and More's Utopia, and the ways in which Reformation and Counter-Reformation and the political turmoil of the mid-seventeenth century fuelled controversial and satirical modes of dialogue.Exploring a wide variety of dialogic types, from instructional manuals a