From Narcissism to Nihilism: Self-Love and Self-Negation in Early Modern Literature (Routledge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture)

This book explores how the myth of Narcissus, which is at once about self-love and self-destruction, desire and death, beauty and pain, became an ambivalent symbol of humanistic endeavour, and articulated the conflicts of early modern authorship. In early modern literature, there were expressions of humanistic self-congratulation that sometimes verged on narcissism, and at the same time expressions of self-doubt and anxiety that verged on nihilism. The themes of self-love and self-negation had a long history in western thought, and this book shows how the medieval treatments of the themes developed into something distinctive in the sixteenth century. The two themes, either individually or combined, encompass such topics as poverty, unrequited love, transgressive sexuality, sexual violence, suicidality, self-worth, authorship, religious penitence, martyrdom, courtly ambition and tyranny. Archdeacon uses over one hundred texts from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries to show how the early modern writer existed in a culture of contrary forces pulling towards either self-affirmation or self-erasure. Writers attempted to negotiate between the polarized extremes of self-love and self-negation, realizing that they are fundamental to how we respond to each other, our selves, and the world. This book explores how the myth of Narcissus, which is at once about self-love and self-destruction, desire and death, beauty and pain, became an ambivalent symbol of humanistic endeavour, and articulated the conflicts of early modern authorship. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of Figures 8 Preface 9 Acknowledgements 11 Note on Texts Cited 13 Chapter 1: Introduction 14 Medieval Views On Philautia and Narcissus 14 The Christian Tradition of Self-negation 17 Early Modern Developments in the Ideas of Philautia and Narcissism 23 Gascoigne and Gosson on Self-love and Self-negation 28 The Remainder of the Book 32 Notes 33 Chapter 2: The Poetics of Personal Nothingness 36 Social and Economic Nothingness 36 Religious Poetry and the Personal Nothing Trope 42 Changing Approaches to Melancholy 44 John Donne: From Self-fashioning to Self-annihilation 48 “Something yet”: Shakespeare and the Value of People 52 Notes 59 Chapter 3: The Narcissus Myth and English Petrarchism 63 The Echo and Narcissus Myth in the 1590s 63 The Place of Women in English Petrarchism 66 “Payne agayne repeated”: Echo and the Failure of Love 69 “The thing thou seekest is not there”: The Emptiness of Petrarchan Desire 73 Narcissistic Entitlement and the Petrarchan Sonneteer 75 Narcissus and Transgression 79 Petrarchan Inversions in Venus and Adonis 82 Barnfield and the Petrarchan Pastoral 85 Notes 89 Chapter 4: Negation and Self-negation in Amatory Verse 94 “Why die none for love now?” Wishing for Death in English Petrarchism 94 Men Negating Women: The Misogynistic Vernacular 100 Sweet Nothings: Negation in the Love Poetry of Donne and Shakespeare 102 Michael Drayton: Love and the Loss of Self 106 All or Nothing: Metaphysical Marriages in the Poetry of John Davies of Hereford 111 Notes 116 Chapter 5: The Glorious Nothingness of Authorship 119 Harvey, Nashe and the Invention of Vanity Publishing 119 Players and Playwrights As Nobodies at the Beginning of the Seventeenth Century 125 The Playwright Nobody 127 The Player Nobody 131 “I desire not this soveraigntie”: Metadramatic Readings of No-body and Some-body 134 Authorship, Creativity and the Value of Imagination 138 Shakespeare on the Creative Imagination 143 Summary 145 Notes 145 Chapter 6: Social and Political Contexts 150 Death and Glory: The Allure of Martyrdom 150 “Nothings well disguised”: Self-love and Self-promotion at Court 157 “His majesty the baby”: Narcissism and the Absolute Ruler 167 Conclusion 175 Notes 176 Appendix 180 Timeline of Key Texts 180 Bibliography 184 Index 196 Archdeacon;,Amatory,Verse;,Christian,Tradition;,creative,imagination;,Death,and,Glory;,economic,nothingness;,early,modern,literature;,English,Petrarchism;,Gascoigne;,Gosson;,Melancholy;,metaphysical,marriages;,Narcissism;,Narcissus,myth;,Nihilism;,Philautia;,political,context;,Self-love;,Self-negation;,social,nothingness;,self-fashioning;,self-annihilation;,social,context Archdeacon,Amatory Verse,Christian Tradition,creative imagination,Death and Glory,economic nothingness,early modern literature,English Petrarchism,Gascoigne,Gosson,Melancholy,metaphysical marriages,Narcissism,Narcissus myth,Nihilism,Philautia,political context,Self-love,Self-negation,social nothingness,self-fashioning,self-annihilation,social context "This book explores how the myth of Narcissus, which is at once about self-love and self-destruction, desire and death, beauty and pain, became an ambivalent symbol of humanistic endeavour, and articulated the conflicts of early modern authorship. In early modern literature, there were expressions of humanistic self-congratulation that sometimes verged on narcissism, and at the same time expressions of self-doubt and anxiety that verged on nihilism. The themes of self-love and self-negation had a long history in western thought, and this book shows how the medieval treatments of the themes developed into something distinctive in the sixteenth century. The two themes, either individually or combined, encompass such topics as poverty, unrequited love, transgressive sexuality, sexual violence, suicidality, self-worth, authorship, religious penitence, martyrdom, courtly ambition and tyranny. Archdeacon uses over100 texts from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries to show how the early modern writer existed in a culture of contrary forces pulling towards either self-affirmation or self-erasure. Writers attempted to negotiate between the polarised extremes of self-love and self-negation, realising that they are fundamental to how we respond to each other, our selves and the world."--Provided by publisher This book explores how the myth of Narcissus, which is at once about self-love and self-destruction, desire and death, beauty and pain, became an ambivalent symbol of humanistic endeavour, and articulated the conflicts of early modern authorship.In early modern literature, there were expressions of humanistic self-congratulation that sometimes verged on narcissism, and at the same time expressions of self-doubt and anxiety that verged on nihilism. The themes of self-love and self-negation had a long history in western thought, and this book shows how the medieval treatments of the themes developed into something distinctive in the sixteenth century. The two themes, either individually or combined, encompass such topics as poverty, unrequited love, transgressive sexuality, sexual violence, suicidality, self-worth, authorship, religious penitence, martyrdom, courtly ambition and tyranny. Archdeacon uses over 100 texts from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries to show how the early modern writer existed in a culture of contrary forces pulling towards either self-affirmation or self-erasure. Writers attempted to negotiate between the polarised extremes of self-love and self-negation, realising that they are fundamental to how we respond to each other, our selves and the world. This book explores how the myth of Narcissus, which is at once about self-love and self-destruction, desire and death, beauty and pain, became an ambivalent symbol of humanistic endeavour, and articulated the conflicts of early modern authorship. In early modern literature, there were expressions of humanistic self-congratulation that sometimes verged on narcissism, and at the same time expressions of self-doubt and anxiety that verged on nihilism. The themes of self-love and self-negation had a long history in western thought, and this book shows how the medieval treatments of the themes developed into something distinctive in the sixteenth century. The two themes, either individually or combined, encompass such topics as poverty, unrequited love, transgressive sexuality, sexual violence, suicidality, self-worth, authorship, religious penitence, martyrdom, courtly ambition and tyranny. Archdeacon uses over 100 texts from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries to show how the early modern writer existed in a culture of contrary forces pulling towards either self-affirmation or self-erasure. Writers attempted to negotiate between the polarised extremes of self-love and self-negation, realising that they are fundamental to how we respond to each other, our selves and the world