{"product_id":"animal-characters-nonhuman-beings-in-early-modern-literature-9780812242492","title":"Animal Characters: Nonhuman Beings in Early Modern Literature","description":"\u003cp\u003eDuring the Renaissance, horses--long considered the privileged, even sentient companions of knights-errant--gradually lost their special place on the field of battle and, with it, their distinctive status in the world of chivalric heroism. Parrots, once the miraculous, articulate companions of popes and emperors, declined into figures of mindless mimicry. Cats, which were tortured by Catholics in the Middle Ages, were tortured in the Reformation as part of the Protestant attack on Catholicism. And sheep, the model for Agnus Dei imagery, underwent transformations at once legal, material, and spiritual as a result of their changing role in Europe's growing manufacturing and trade economies. While in the Middle Ages these nonhumans were endowed with privileged social associations, personal agency, even the ability to reason and speak, in the early modern period they lost these qualities at the very same time that a new emphasis on, and understanding of, human character was developing in European literature. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eAnimal Characters\u003c\/i\u003e Bruce Thomas Boehrer follows five species--the horse, the parrot, the cat, the turkey, and the sheep--through their appearances in an eclectic mix of texts, from romances and poetry to cookbooks and natural histories. He shows how dramatic changes in animal character types between 1400 and 1700 relate to the emerging economy and culture of the European Renaissance. In early modern European culture, animals not only served humans as sources of labor, companionship, clothing, and food; these nonhuman creatures helped to form an understanding of personhood. Incorporating readings of Shakespeare's plays, Milton's \u003ci\u003eParadise Lost\u003c\/i\u003e, Margaret Cavendish's \u003ci\u003eBlazing World\u003c\/i\u003e, and other works, Boehrer's series of animal character studies illuminates a fascinating period of change in interspecies relationships.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Bruce Thomas Boehrer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Pennsylvania Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/27\/2010\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.15lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.24h x 6.37w x 0.88d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780812242492\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBruce Thomas Boehrer is Bertram H. Davis Professor and Frances Cushing Ervin Professor of English at Florida State University. His Parrot Culture: Our 2500-Year-Long Fascination with the World's Most Talkative Bird is also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":41142765912179,"sku":"9.78081E+12","price":84.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_714fbeab-a399-4749-b41d-951675e6180a.jpg?v=1701878479","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/en-de\/products\/animal-characters-nonhuman-beings-in-early-modern-literature-9780812242492","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}