Pastoral and the Poetics of Self-Contradiction: Theocritus to Marvell

The traditional view of pastoral as a static genre, aimed at the recreation of an idyllic past, has recently been challenged by historicist critics. Here Judith Haber complicates the opposition between humanist and historicist perspectives by examining ways in which pastoral poets themselves interrogate the contradictory relations inherent in their genre. Focusing on texts by Theocritus, Virgil, Sidney, and Marvell, Haber revises current understanding of pastoral, and raises wider questions about literature in society and the establishment of literary tradition.