The Literature of Controversy: Polemical Strategy from Milton to Junius

188 Pages·2022·12.361 MB·English

by  Thomas N. Corns

Routledge Revivals
The Literature of Controversy
First published in 1987, The Literature of Controversy is a collection of essays
by scholars from Britain, the United States, and Australia on major works
from a classic epoch of English controversial prose. Each essay engages a
single text or series of texts, less to discuss the ideas and arguments per se
than to consider the rhetorical techniques assumed for the political manip-
ulation of the readers. Though emphasis varies from contribution to con-
tribution, the purpose, broadly, is to explore how the constituents of those
texts are organised to coax, cajole, persuade or inspire those to whom they
address. As the editor argues in his introduction, this approach, the critique
of polemical strategy, for the most part accepts the validity of paying regard
to the author and his intentions; it engages questions about the responses of
the readership at which the texts were targeted; and it proceeds inter-
textuality in its attempts to reconstruct the controversies in which the texts
were embedded and the codes within which they operated. This book will be
of interest to students of literature, rhetoric and history.

The Literature of Controversy
Polemical Strategy from Milton to Junius
Edited by Thomas N. Corns
Firstpublishedin1987
ByFrankCassandCo.Ltd
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ALibraryofCongressrecordexistsunderISBN:0714632929
ISBN:978-1-032-35775-1(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-003-32852-0(ebk)
ISBN:978-1-032-35777-5(pbk)
BookDOI10.4324/9781003328520
THE LITERATURE
OF CONTROVERSY
Polemical Strategy from
Milton to Junius
Edited by
THOMAS N. CORNS
University College of North Wales,
Bangor
FRANK CASS
First published 1987 in Great Britain by
FRANK CASS AND COMPANY LIMITED
Gainsborough House, Gainsborough Road,
London, Ell IRS, England
and in the United States of America by
FRANK CASS AND COMPANY LIMITED
c/o Biblio Distribution Centre
81 Adams Drive, P.O. Box 327, Totowa, N.J. 07511
Copyright © 1987 Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Corns, Thomas N.
The Literature of controversy : polemical
strategy from Milton to Junius.
1. English literature — Early modern,
1500-1700 — History and criticism
2. English literature — 18th century —
History and criticism
I. Title
820.9 PR431
ISBN 0-7146-3292-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Literature of controversy.
"This group of studies first appeared in a special
issue on 'The literature of controversy' of Prose
studies, vol. 9, no. 2, published by Frank Cass & Co.,
Ltd." — T.p. verso.
Includes bibliographies.
1. English prose literature — 17th century — History
and criticism. 2. Polemics. 3. English prose literature
— 18th century — History and criticism. I. Corns,
Thomas N.
PR756.P64L5 1987 828'.408'09 86-17523
ISBN 0-7146-3292-9
This group of studies first appeared in a Special Issue on "The
Literature of Controversy" of Prose Studies, Vol.9, No.2,
published by Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photo-
copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission
of Frank Cass and Company Limited in writing.
Typeset by Williams Graphics, Abergele, North Wales, U.K.
Printed in Great Britain by
Adlard & Son Ltd, Dorking, Surrey
Contents
Notes on Contributors vii
Introduction Thomas N. Corns 1
Milton's Areopagitica: Liberty for the Sects Michael Wilding 1
Richard Overton's Marpriest Tracts:
Towards a History of Leveller
Style Nigel Smith 39
How to be a Literary Reader of
Hobbes's Most Famous Chapter Charles Cantalupo 67
Something to the Purpose: Marvell's
Rhetorical Strategy in The
Rehearsal Transpros'd Jennifer Chibnall 80
The Autobiographer as Apologist:
Reliquiae Baxterianae (1696) N. H. Keeble 105
Defoe's Shortest Way with
Dissenters'. Irony, Intention
and Reader-Response J.A. Downie 120
"In the case of David": Swift's
Drapier's Letters Margarette Smith 140
Junius and the Grafton
Administration, 1768-1770 David W. Lindsay 160