THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE HANDBOOK
"Never a dull read, Marshall Grossman's elegant volume bristles with
sharp ideas to inform, stimulate and challenge his audience."
Thomas Corns, Bangor University
The seventeenth century was a dramatic period in British history,
witnessing two revolutions, huge constitutional change, the widening of
the political and literary classes, and the gradual acceptance of women
as authors. This easy-to-use Handbook offers readers a succinct overview
of this complex period, guiding them through the principal literary
works, figures and innovations of the time. Focusing on studying texts
in context, Marshall Grossman explores the ways in which major works,
including Hamlet, Paradise Lost and The Pilgrim's Progress, both
reflected and helped to shape the history of the time, while concise
sections on topics such as the Gunpowder Plot and the Pamphlet Wars
allow the reader to engage more fully with the central themes and
preoccupations of the period. Concluding with a series of brief
biographical profiles describing the life and works of the century's
most significant and influential writers, The Seventeenth-Century
Literature Handbook is essential reading for anyone interested in
British Literature across the civil war and restoration periods.