Milton and the Grounds of Contention

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Mark R. Kelley, Michael Lieb, John T. Shawcross
Duquesne University Press, 2003 - History - 352 pages
Both in his life and in his writings, Milton became the very embodiment of contention. He was an embattled figure whose ideas provoked endless controversy from his own time to the present. The ten new essays in this volume examine major issues that have become the grounds of contention in the study and interpretation of Milton and his works. These issues include the significance of women writers and readers, the nature of Milton's influence and the reception of his works, the gendered bias that informs the portrayal of Eve, the vexed subject of choice and election that underlies the character of Samson, and the taint of heresy that Milton's theological beliefs are said to betray. In their engagement with these issues, the scholars represented here concern themselves with such figures as Edmund Burke, Lucy Huitchinson and Elizabeth Singer Rowe. Their essays explre the concept of 'femme covert', the authorship of 'De Doctrina Christiana', the significance of Milton's failure to pursue the Passion and Crucifiction of Jesus, and the place of the Socinian controversy in Milton and his heirs.

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Contents

Introduction
1
2 John Milton Lucy Hutchinson and the Republican
37
Elizabeth Singer Rowes
64
Copyright

9 other sections not shown

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About the author (2003)

Dr. Kelley graduated from the City University of New York, and is the author of "Altering Eyes: New Perspectives on 'Samson Agonistes'". MICHAEL LIEB is professor of English and Research Professor of Humanities Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is coeditor of The Miltonic Samson, which won the 1996 Irene Samuel Award of the Milton Society of America. John T Shawcross was professor emeritus of English at the University of Kentucky. He is the author of numerous books, including With Mortal Voice: The Creation of Paradise Lost. He is coeditor of Milton and the Grounds of Contention, and is a two-time winner of the James Holly Hanford Award for the most distinguished book on Milton.

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