Browse Hierarchy ESH6075: Conspiracy, Misinformation, and Power in Early Modern Literature

This module looks at early modern literary, political, and philosophical writings through the lens of lying, deception, and misinformation. It asks who can accuse others of being liars, conspirators, or `enemies within¿ -- and how -- by looking at debates about verbal and physical forms of deceit, such as disguises, pseudonyms, cross-dressing, ambiguity, metaphors and plain lies in a variety of texts. It examines the power dynamics between the state and the individual, the majority and the minority, the local and the foreign. Topics include Anne Askew and gendered violence, Machiavelli and lying, foreigners in Marlowe¿s and Shakespeare¿s London, Marrano-Jewish writings on dissimulation, representations of `Turks¿ and Muslims in European and Ottoman literature, and Donne and Jesuit casuistry. The module also looks at some postmodern representations of early modernity, and recent productions of Renaissance drama to examine how literature and theatre can reinforce or subvert preconceptions, and endorse or restrict cultural diversity. All foreign language texts on the module are available in English translation.