Nothingness, Negativity, and Nominalism in Shakespeare and Petrarch

Benjamin Boysen

Published by De Gruyter 2021

Nothingness, Negativity, and Nominalism in Shakespeare and Petrarch

Benjamin Boysen

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110691771

Overview
Contents

About this book

Being exposed to the Nominalist expansion in early modernity, Petrarch and Shakespeare are highly preoccupied with a Nominalist dimension of language and representation.

Against this background, the study shows how these Renaissance poets advanced a special notion of subjectivity and identity as rooted in negativity, otherness, and representation.

The book thus argues for a new understanding of negative modes of subjectivity in Petrarch and Shakespeare. A new and sharpened understanding emerging from an interpretation of Francesco Petrarch’s notion of exile and of love in his great poetical cycle Rerum vulgarium fragmenta as well as a meticulous examination of the concept of nothingness in William Shakespeare’s works.

Petrarch and Shakespeare poetically show how identity is alien and decentred – yet also free and expanding. In other words, these poets illustrate how subjectivity is constituted by heterogeneity. Moreover, pointing to other examples of this negative subjectivity in Renaissance philosophy and poetry, the study suggests that these models for subjectivity could be extended to other early modern writers.

Author / Editor information

Benjamin Boysen, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
I. Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
II. Petrarch and the Triumph of Exile Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	20
III. Rerum vulgarium fragmenta: Petrarch’s Labyrinthine Mirror Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
IV. Shakespeare’s “Nihilism” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
V. Early Modernity and the Foil of Contrarieties Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
VI. Literature Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	184

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars of Comparative, Italian and English Literature
Pages
- Front matter: 10
- Main content: 185
Keywords: Early Modernity; subjectivity; nominalism; nothingness

eBook

Published: November 9, 2020
ISBN: 9783110691771

Hardcover

Published: November 9, 2020
ISBN: 9783110691672