Epistolary Community in Print, 1580-1664 (Material Readings in Early Modern Culture)

Focusing on six examples of printed letters from the period, in this study Diana Barnes develops a genealogy of epistolary discourse in early modern England. She considers how the examples-from the writings of Gabriel Harvey and Edmund Spencer, Angel Day, Michael Drayton, Jacques du Bosque and Margaret Cavendish-manipulate this generic tradition to articulate ideas of community under specific historical and political circumstances.