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.

About the Author
Richard Strier 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 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.

Reviews
"Well-articulated, intelligent, and written with the ease and confidence of a mature scholar. There is nothing in this book that isn't freshly thought through in an energetic and open way." (Gordon Braden, University of Virginia)"



Book Information
ISBN 9780226777511
Author Richard Strier
Format Hardback
Page Count 328
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 567g
Dimensions(mm) 23mm * 17mm * 3mm