The first volume to offer students the original English translation of "Utopia" with an explanation of its historical and intellectual context, this volume will help students better understand the reception of one of the most influential books in the Western tradition. The volume provides the 1551 Robynson translation, allowing students to experience the text as it was first encountered by sixteenth-century English readers -- with the benefit of modernized spelling and extensive annotations, making the text readable for today's students. A detailed introduction discusses the literary and philosophical underpinnings of More's thought while situating the author and his work within the political, economic, and religious contexts of sixteenth-century England. Also included are visual materials from sixteenth-century editions, including woodcuts and the Utopian alphabet.
The first volume to offer students the original English translation of "Utopia" with an explanation of its historical and intellectual context, this volume will help students better understand the reception of one of the most influential books in the Western tradition. The volume provides the 1551 Robynson translation, allowing students to experience the text as it was first encountered by sixteenth-century English readers -- with the benefit of modernized spelling and extensive annotations, making the text readable for today's students. A detailed introduction discusses the literary and philosophical underpinnings of More's thought while situating the author and his work within the political, economic, and religious contexts of sixteenth-century England. Also included are visual materials from sixteenth-century editions, including woodcuts and the Utopian alphabet.
Introduction - PART 1: TEXTS - PART 2: CONTEXTS - PART 3: DEVELOPMENTS - The Document - Translator Ralph Robynson's Dedicatory Letter to William Cecil (1551) - Utopia - Utopian Alphabet - Appendices - Chronology - Contemporary Maps and Other Illustrations - Questions for Consideration - Selected Bibliography - Index
David Harris Sacks is Professor of History and Humanities at Reed College. His scholarly work focuses on the cultural and social history of medieval and early modern Britain. He is the author of "Trade, Society and Politics in Bristol, 1500-1640" (1985), and "The Widening Gate: Bristol and the Atlantic Economy, 1450-1700" (1991), which was awarded the John Ben Snow Prize in British History by the North American Conference on British Studies. His current work includes studies in the history of early modern British urban society and culture and of the history of ethical, political, and economic discourse in early modern England focusing on the problem of monopoly and freedom. Sacks has been a fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and was an NEH Long-term fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. During 1998-99, he will be Visiting Professor of History at Yale University.
"Students who use this edition will gain a comprehensive understanding of the historical and literary contexts out of which Utopia emerged."
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