1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910455350703321

Autore

Magnusson Lynne

Titolo

Shakespeare and social dialogue : dramatic language and Elizabethan letters / / Lynne Magnusson [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 1999

ISBN

1-107-11632-5

0-521-03055-2

1-280-15367-9

0-511-11733-7

0-511-14971-9

0-511-32453-7

0-511-48374-0

0-511-05164-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (x, 221 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Disciplina

822.3/3

Soggetti

Literature and society - England - History - 16th century

English language - Early modern, 1500-1700 - Style

English letters - History and criticism

Social history in literature

Discourse analysis, Literary

Dialogue in literature

Drama - Technique

England Social life and customs 16th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 208-216) and index.

Nota di contenuto

; pt. I. The Rhetoric of Politeness. ; 1. Politeness and dramatic character in Henry VIII. ; 2. "Power to hurt": language and service in Sidney household letters and Shakespeare's sonnets -- ; pt. II. Eloquent Relations in Letters. ; 3. Scripting social relations in Erasmus and Day. ; 4. Reading courtly and administrative letters. ; 5. Linguistic stratification, merchant discourse, and social change -- ; pt. III. A Prosaics of Conversation. ; 6. The pragmatics of repair in King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing. ; 7. "Voice potential": language and symbolic



capital in Othello.

Sommario/riassunto

Shakespeare and Social Dialogue deals with Shakespeare's language and the rhetoric of Elizabethan letters. Moving beyond claims about the language of individual Shakespearean characters, Magnusson analyses dialogue, conversation, sonnets and particularly letters of the period, which are normally read as historical documents, as the verbal negotiation of specific social and power relations. Thus, the rhetoric of service or friendship is explored in texts as diverse as Sidney family letters, Shakespearean sonnets and Burghley's state letters. The book draws on ideas from discourse analysis and linguistic pragmatics, especially 'politeness theory', relating these to key ideas in epistolary handbooks of the period, including those by Erasmus and Angel Day and demonstrates that Shakespeare's language is rooted in the everyday language of Elizabethan culture. Magnusson creates a way of reading both literary texts and historical documents which bridges the gap between the methods of new historicism and linguistic criticism.