Fictions of Early Capitalism

Catalog description

Early modernity names the period of transition from feudalism to capitalism that included, among other changes, the dissolution of the monasteries, the enclosure of common lands, the formation of corporations, and the expansion of colonialism and trade. How did these transformations in the economy ramify in the literary production of the period? What is enabled and obscured by these grand narratives of historical change, and how have these useful fictions conditioned our perceptions of literary texts, genres, and forms? This seminar will take up these questions by examining travel narratives (Spenser, Raleigh), drama (Shakespeare, Massinger, Daborne), and early novels (Behn) alongside economic theory (Marx, Smith, et al.) and philosophies of history (Hegel, Nietzsche).