Sinister Aesthetics : The Appeal of Evil in Early Modern English Literature

This engrossing volume studies the poetics of evil in early modern English culture, reconciling the Renaissance belief that literature should uphold morality with the compelling and attractive representations of evil throughout the period’s literature. The chapters explore a variety of texts, including Spenser’s __Faerie Queene__, Shakespeare’s __Richard III__, broadside ballads, and sermons, culminating in a new reading of __Paradise Lost__ and a novel understanding of the dynamic interaction between aesthetics and theology in shaping seventeenth century Protestant piety. Through these discussions, the book introduces the concept of “sinister aesthetics”: artistic conventions that can make representations of the villainous, monstrous, or hellish pleasurable. Front Matter....Pages i-xi Introduction: Representing Evil in Early Modern England....Pages 1-21 “Dreadful Harmony”: The Poetics of Evil in Sidney, Tasso, and Spenser....Pages 23-77 Honeyed Toads: Sinister Aesthetics in Richard III ....Pages 79-124 Monsters and the Pleasures of Divine Justice in English Popular Print, 1560–1675....Pages 125-172 Satanic Sensibilities in Paradise Lost ....Pages 173-215 Milton’s Sinister God: Poetic Justice and Chiaroscuro in Paradise Lost ....Pages 217-254 Epilogue: The Sinister After Milton....Pages 255-265 Back Matter....Pages 267-289 Annotation This engrossing volume studies the poetics of evil in early modern English culture, reconciling the Renaissance belief that literature should uphold morality with the compelling and attractive representations of evil throughout the period's literature