Thomas Festa – författare

Bringing together eight original essays from leading and emerging Miltonists, this volume explores a second wave of critical thought about Milton’s monist materialism, the view that all existence arises from a single substance or reality. Contributors examine sensory matters of fragrance and sound, the literary politics of walking and of sexual reproduction, the ontology of embodiment as human beings and angels, and the appropriation of Milton’s materialism by both early Mormons in the nineteenth century and fringe figures such as gun enthusiasts in the twentieth. In so doing, they demonstrate the ongoing relevance of Milton’s writings in the history of views of embodiment and materialist thought.

This book shows that education constitutes the central metaphor of John Milton's political as well as his poetic writing. Demonstrating how Milton's theory of education emerged from his own practices as a reader and teacher, this book analyzes for the first time the relationship between Milton's own material habits as a reader and his theory of the power of books. Milton's instincts for pedagogy, and the habits of inculcation everywhere visible in his writings, take on a larger political function in his use of education as a trope for the transmission of intellectual history. The book therefore analyzes Paradise Lost in the complementary contexts of its outright educational claims and more subversive countervailing measures in order to show how Milton dramatizes "the end of learning," which is to say both its objective and its failure. The thesis emphasizes the argumentative resourcefulness of Milton's efforts to liberate readers from the tyrannical bonds of their political innocence, most immediately in the context of the failure of Cromwell's regime to establish lasting republican institutions. More philosophically, the book explores the ways in which Milton's works investigate the humane and intellectual yearning for justice in response to the problem of evil.

This book shows that education constitutes the central metaphor of John Milton's political as well as his poetic writing. Demonstrating how Milton's theory of education emerged from his own practices as a reader and teacher, this book analyzes for the first time the relationship between Milton's own material habits as a reader and his theory of the power of books. Milton's instincts for pedagogy, and the habits of inculcation everywhere visible in his writings, take on a larger political function in his use of education as a trope for the transmission of intellectual history. The book therefore analyzes Paradise Lost in the complementary contexts of its outright educational claims and more subversive countervailing measures in order to show how Milton dramatizes "the end of learning," which is to say both its objective and its failure. The thesis emphasizes the argumentative resourcefulness of Milton's efforts to liberate readers from the tyrannical bonds of their political innocence, most immediately in the context of the failure of Cromwell's regime to establish lasting republican institutions. More philosophically, the book explores the ways in which Milton's works investigate the humane and intellectual yearning for justice in response to the problem of evil.

This book shows that education constitutes the central metaphor of John Milton''s political as well as his poetic writing. Demonstrating how Milton''s theory of education emerged from his own practices as a reader and teacher, this book analyzes for the first time the relationship between Milton''s own material habits as a reader and his theory of the power of books. Milton''s instincts for pedagogy, and the habits of inculcation everywhere visible in his writings, take on a larger political function in his use of education as a trope for the transmission of intellectual history. The book therefore analyzes Paradise Lost in the complementary contexts of its outright educational claims and more subversive countervailing measures in order to show how Milton dramatizes "the end of learning," which is to say both its objective and its failure. The thesis emphasizes the argumentative resourcefulness of Milton''s efforts to liberate readers from the tyrannical bonds of their political innocence, most immediately in the context of the failure of Cromwell''s regime to establish lasting republican institutions. More philosophically, the book explores the ways in which Milton''s works investigate the humane and intellectual yearning for justice in response to the problem of evil.

This book shows that education constitutes the central metaphor of John Milton''s political as well as his poetic writing. Demonstrating how Milton''s theory of education emerged from his own practices as a reader and teacher, this book analyzes for the first time the relationship between Milton''s own material habits as a reader and his theory of the power of books. Milton''s instincts for pedagogy, and the habits of inculcation everywhere visible in his writings, take on a larger political function in his use of education as a trope for the transmission of intellectual history. The book therefore analyzes Paradise Lost in the complementary contexts of its outright educational claims and more subversive countervailing measures in order to show how Milton dramatizes "the end of learning," which is to say both its objective and its failure. The thesis emphasizes the argumentative resourcefulness of Milton''s efforts to liberate readers from the tyrannical bonds of their political innocence, most immediately in the context of the failure of Cromwell''s regime to establish lasting republican institutions. More philosophically, the book explores the ways in which Milton''s works investigate the humane and intellectual yearning for justice in response to the problem of evil.

New Essays on John Milton and Lucy Hutchinson: “More Equal” challenges the myth of Milton as a solitary genius, instead suggesting that scholarly work on early modern women’s writing and their collaborations and contexts can be usefully applied to Milton. By bringing essays about Milton and about Lucy Hutchinson together, the collection suggests that studying each author’s works within the context of the other can further interpretative possibilities. The collection as a whole argues that the roles women played in seventeenth-century England deserve more attention within literary readings of authors of the period, and asserts the value of understanding the writing of authors like Milton within the context of those women and their work. Featuring an essay by foremost Hutchinson scholar David Norbrook, which conjoins the two authors and considers them in relation to one another, this volume offers a fresh understanding of both Milton and Hutchinson’s writings and beliefs.The volume’s contributors represent a range of scholars and techniques, and their work represents an expansion of work presented at the Conference on John Milton. Past volumes drawing from that conference series have been recognized for their significance to Milton studies, receiving the Society’s Irene Samuel Award for distinguished multiauthor collection on Milton, including Locating Milton (Clemson UP, 2021), co-edited by this volume’s editors, Festa and Ainsworth. As with those past volumes, contributors represent a range from distinguished senior scholars to graduate students.

Following the editors’ introduction to the collection, the essays in Scholarly Milton examine the nature of Milton’s own formidable scholarship and its implications for his prose and poetry–“scholarly Milton” the writer–as well as subsequent scholars’ historical and theoretical framing of Milton studies as an object of scholarly attention–“scholarly Milton” as at first an emergent and later an established academic discipline. The essays are particularly concerned with the topics of the ethical ends of learning, of Milton’s attention to the trivium within the Renaissance humanist educational system, and the development of scholarly commentary on Milton’s writings. Originally selected from the best essays presented at the 2015 Conference on John Milton in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the essays have been considerably revised and expanded for publication.

Following the editors’ introduction to the collection, the essays in Scholarly Milton examine the nature of Milton’s own formidable scholarship and its implications for his prose and poetry–“scholarly Milton” the writer–as well as subsequent scholars’ historical and theoretical framing of Milton studies as an object of scholarly attention–“scholarly Milton” as at first an emergent and later an established academic discipline. The essays are particularly concerned with the topics of the ethical ends of learning, of Milton’s attention to the trivium within the Renaissance humanist educational system, and the development of scholarly commentary on Milton’s writings. Originally selected from the best essays presented at the 2015 Conference on John Milton in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the essays have been considerably revised and expanded for publication.

Locating Milton: Places and Perspectives collects nine previously unpublished essays that examine Milton’s works as the product of his unique intellectual experiences at home and abroad, while also tracing the ways in which those works themselves express the influence of his travel, his reading, and his political engagement. Following an interpretive introduction that seeks to locate Milton through his last surviving letter, the first group of essays examine how young Milton locates himself through his travels in Italy, how Milton’s early reading leads him to situate himself intellectually, and how the intellectual framework Milton generated remains pertinent to students and communities today. The second group calculates the impact of early modern mathematical and scientific models on Milton’s cosmology, demonstrating how Milton’s complex negotiations of such models give form and perspective to his greatest poetic works. The final group of essays locates Milton distinctly through his works’ global reception, ranging from the anonymous English poem Praeexistence, to Milton’s place in the “new world” and science fiction, to his presence as a figure inspiring political resistance in communist Hungary.