Description
Milton criticism often treats the poet as if he were the last of the Renaissance poets or a visionary prophet who remained misunderstood until he was read by the Romantics. At the same time, literary histories of the period often invoke a Long Eighteenth Century that reaches its climax with the French Revolution or the Reform Bill of 1832. What gets overlooked in such accounts is the rich story of Milton's relationship to his contemporaries and early eighteenth-century heirs. The essays in this collection demonstrate that some of Milton's earliest readers were more perceptive than Romantic and twentieth-century interpreters. The translations, editions, and commentaries produced by early eighteenth century men of letters emerge as the seedbed of modern criticism and the term 'neoclassical' is itself unmasked as an inadequate characterization of the literary criticism and poetry of the period-a period that could brilliantly define a Miltonic sublime, even as it supported and described all the varieties of parody and domestication found in the mock epic and the novel. These essays, which are written by a team of leading Miltonists and scholars of the Restoration and eighteenth century, cover a range of topics-from Milton's early editors and translators to his first theatrical producers; from Miltonic similes in Pope's Iliad to Miltonic echoes in Austen's Pride and Prejudice; from marriage, to slavery, to republicanism, to the heresy of Arianism. What they share in common is a conviction that the early eighteenth century understood Milton and that the Long Restoration cannot be understood without him.
About the Author
Blair Hoxby is Professor of English at Stanford University. After graduating with an A. B. from Harvard University, he studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He then earned his Ph.D. from Yale University. Before coming to Stanford, he was an Associate Professor of English at Yale and an Associate Professor of History and Literature at Harvard. He is the author of Mammon's Music: Literature and Economics in the Age of Milton; What Was Tragedy? Theory and the Early Modern Canon; and numerous articles on Milton, literary and cultural responses to nascent capitalism, early modern theater, and theories of tragedy. Ann Baynes Coiro is Professor of English at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She is the author of a number of essays on a wide variety of topics, including Herrick, Jonson, Amelia Lanyer, the social connections of manuscript and print circulation, Stuart court culture, Cavalier poetry and the English revolution, and Restoration theatricality. In particular, she has published many essays on Milton's poetry. She will be the President of the Milton Society of America, 2016-17. Her first book was titled Robert Herrick's Hesperides and the Epigram Book Tradition. She has co-edited the recent Rethinking Historicism from Shakespeare to Milton (Cambridge).
Reviews
Blair Hoxby and Ann Baynes Coiro's edited volume -- a leviathan in its own right -- includes a who's who of Miltonists and of scholars working more widely in the fields of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century studies, and across the disciplines of literature and history. The volume's length, its august assembly of contributors, and what must have been its considerable cost to produce ... position it as a major statement not only by the editors and their team but also by Oxford University Press. Indeed, it is hard to think of a recent book with "Restoration" in the title that can compare to Milton in the Long Restoration either in terms of substance or as an event ... The individual brilliance of the essays is not in doubt -- no mean feat for a book this capacious and wide-ranging. * Matthew Augustine, Huntington Library Quarterly *
If I had to identify a focal point for this year's crop of scholarship, it would have to be Hoxby and Coiro's Milton in the Long Restoration ... It is a formidable collection, both in size and importance for the field. The idea of reconceptualizing Milton's period affiliations is a powerful one that provides new insights into the meaning of Milton's work in his own time and what he came to be in the century following his death. * Matthew Mroz, The Year's Work in English Studies *
Milton in the Long Restoration [is] ... endowed with ocean-liner magnitude, making it impossible to do justice to the wealth of discerning argument found in the twenty-nine essays bringing together new work by important Miltonists and scholars of the Restoration and eighteenth century ... This is an invaluable book. * Lowell Gallagher, SEL *
In this expertly curated collection Blair Hoxby and Ann Baynes Coiro make a compelling case for nothing less than a new approach to periodization, offering a substantive alternative to myriad studies in which Milton marks the end of the English Renaissance or Paradise Lost the culmination of Renaissance epic, humanism, or Reformation poetics. Instead the volume directs our attention to Milton's earliest readers during the era that the editors designate as the Long Restoration ... Hoxby and Coiro draw together an exceptional array of essays to make the import of this period clear, illustrating not only how early critics framed Milton's works for generations of readers, but also how Milton served as a touchstone in the development of English poetry and poetics. This massive volume affords unfamiliar readers a thorough introduction to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century poets and critics for whom Milton was a signal influence. * Russ Leo, Renaissance Quarterly 71.3 *
Blair Hoxby and Ann Baynes Coiro's edited volume-a leviathan in its own right-includes a who's who of Miltonists and of scholars working more widely in the fields of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century studies, and across the disciplines of literature and history. The volume's length, its august assembly of contributors, and what must have been its considerable cost to produce . . . position it as a major statement not only by the editors and their team but also by Oxford University Press. Indeed, it is hard to think of a recent book with "Restoration" in the title that can compare to Milton in the Long Restoration either in terms of substance or as an event. . . . The individual brilliance of the essays is not in doubt-no mean feat for a book this capacious and wide-ranging. * Matthew Augustine, Huntington Library Quarterly, 80.4 (2017) *
If I had to identify a focal point for this year's crop of scholarship, it would have to be Hoxby and Coiro's Milton in the Long Restoration. . . It is a formidable collection, both in size and importance for the field. The idea of reconceptualizing Milton's period affiliations is a powerful one that provides new insights into the meaning of Milton's work in his own time and what he came to be in the century following his death. * Matthew Mroz, The Year's Work in English Studies, 97.1 (2018) *
Milton in the Long Restoration [is] . . . endowed with ocean-liner magnitude, making it impossible to do justice to the wealth of discerning argument found in the twenty-nine essays bringing together new work by important Miltonists and scholars of the Restoration and eighteenth century. ... This is an invaluable book. * Lowell Gallagher, SEL 58.1 (2018) *
This is a brick of a book: 575 pages of text, and 29 contributors who together comprise a Homeric catalogue of distinguished Miltonists [...] overall the essays are deeply impressive. * Peter C. Herman, San Diego State University, in Milton Quarterly *
Milton in the Long Restoration, edited by Blair Hoxby and Ann Baynes Coiro, is a thoughtful collection of unexpected approaches to the great poet of the seventeenth century. * George E. Haggerty, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 *
Awards
Winner of Winner, Irene Samuel Memorial Award, Milton Society of America.
Book Information
ISBN 9780192895868
Author Blair Hoxby
Format Paperback
Page Count 656
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1010g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 158mm * 35mm
About the Author
Blair Hoxby is Professor of English at Stanford University. After graduating with an A. B. from Harvard University, he studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He then earned his Ph.D. from Yale University. Before coming to Stanford, he was an Associate Professor of English at Yale and an Associate Professor of History and Literature at Harvard. He is the author of Mammon's Music: Literature and Economics in the Age of Milton; What Was Tragedy? Theory and the Early Modern Canon; and numerous articles on Milton, literary and cultural responses to nascent capitalism, early modern theater, and theories of tragedy. Ann Baynes Coiro is Professor of English at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She is the author of a number of essays on a wide variety of topics, including Herrick, Jonson, Amelia Lanyer, the social connections of manuscript and print circulation, Stuart court culture, Cavalier poetry and the English revolution, and Restoration theatricality. In particular, she has published many essays on Milton's poetry. She will be the President of the Milton Society of America, 2016-17. Her first book was titled Robert Herrick's Hesperides and the Epigram Book Tradition. She has co-edited the recent Rethinking Historicism from Shakespeare to Milton (Cambridge).
Reviews
Blair Hoxby and Ann Baynes Coiro's edited volume -- a leviathan in its own right -- includes a who's who of Miltonists and of scholars working more widely in the fields of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century studies, and across the disciplines of literature and history. The volume's length, its august assembly of contributors, and what must have been its considerable cost to produce ... position it as a major statement not only by the editors and their team but also by Oxford University Press. Indeed, it is hard to think of a recent book with "Restoration" in the title that can compare to Milton in the Long Restoration either in terms of substance or as an event ... The individual brilliance of the essays is not in doubt -- no mean feat for a book this capacious and wide-ranging. * Matthew Augustine, Huntington Library Quarterly *
If I had to identify a focal point for this year's crop of scholarship, it would have to be Hoxby and Coiro's Milton in the Long Restoration ... It is a formidable collection, both in size and importance for the field. The idea of reconceptualizing Milton's period affiliations is a powerful one that provides new insights into the meaning of Milton's work in his own time and what he came to be in the century following his death. * Matthew Mroz, The Year's Work in English Studies *
Milton in the Long Restoration [is] ... endowed with ocean-liner magnitude, making it impossible to do justice to the wealth of discerning argument found in the twenty-nine essays bringing together new work by important Miltonists and scholars of the Restoration and eighteenth century ... This is an invaluable book. * Lowell Gallagher, SEL *
In this expertly curated collection Blair Hoxby and Ann Baynes Coiro make a compelling case for nothing less than a new approach to periodization, offering a substantive alternative to myriad studies in which Milton marks the end of the English Renaissance or Paradise Lost the culmination of Renaissance epic, humanism, or Reformation poetics. Instead the volume directs our attention to Milton's earliest readers during the era that the editors designate as the Long Restoration ... Hoxby and Coiro draw together an exceptional array of essays to make the import of this period clear, illustrating not only how early critics framed Milton's works for generations of readers, but also how Milton served as a touchstone in the development of English poetry and poetics. This massive volume affords unfamiliar readers a thorough introduction to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century poets and critics for whom Milton was a signal influence. * Russ Leo, Renaissance Quarterly 71.3 *
Blair Hoxby and Ann Baynes Coiro's edited volume-a leviathan in its own right-includes a who's who of Miltonists and of scholars working more widely in the fields of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century studies, and across the disciplines of literature and history. The volume's length, its august assembly of contributors, and what must have been its considerable cost to produce . . . position it as a major statement not only by the editors and their team but also by Oxford University Press. Indeed, it is hard to think of a recent book with "Restoration" in the title that can compare to Milton in the Long Restoration either in terms of substance or as an event. . . . The individual brilliance of the essays is not in doubt-no mean feat for a book this capacious and wide-ranging. * Matthew Augustine, Huntington Library Quarterly, 80.4 (2017) *
If I had to identify a focal point for this year's crop of scholarship, it would have to be Hoxby and Coiro's Milton in the Long Restoration. . . It is a formidable collection, both in size and importance for the field. The idea of reconceptualizing Milton's period affiliations is a powerful one that provides new insights into the meaning of Milton's work in his own time and what he came to be in the century following his death. * Matthew Mroz, The Year's Work in English Studies, 97.1 (2018) *
Milton in the Long Restoration [is] . . . endowed with ocean-liner magnitude, making it impossible to do justice to the wealth of discerning argument found in the twenty-nine essays bringing together new work by important Miltonists and scholars of the Restoration and eighteenth century. ... This is an invaluable book. * Lowell Gallagher, SEL 58.1 (2018) *
This is a brick of a book: 575 pages of text, and 29 contributors who together comprise a Homeric catalogue of distinguished Miltonists [...] overall the essays are deeply impressive. * Peter C. Herman, San Diego State University, in Milton Quarterly *
Milton in the Long Restoration, edited by Blair Hoxby and Ann Baynes Coiro, is a thoughtful collection of unexpected approaches to the great poet of the seventeenth century. * George E. Haggerty, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 *
Awards
Winner of Winner, Irene Samuel Memorial Award, Milton Society of America.
Book Information
ISBN 9780192895868
Author Blair Hoxby
Format Paperback
Page Count 656
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1010g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 158mm * 35mm
