Abstract

I was invited to respond, as an early modernist, to two essays on medieval fictionality by Julie Orlemanski and Michelle Karnes. Both writers take issue with Catherine Gallagher's well-known assertion that fiction was "invented" in the early eighteenth century, with the rise of the novel. In "my" period, 16th-17thcentury England, debate raged in the wake of the Protestant Reformation about the relationship of truth to the world of quotidian experience. The truths of Christianity violate everyday expectations, but which disruptions are miraculous and which are frauds is highly contested. Reformers satirize and debunk Catholic rituals and miracles, and Catholics similarly ridicule Protestant beliefs and practices. Which events present themselves as "true" seems to depend upon literary genre and the horizons of plausibility that those genres imply. Shakespeare, I argue, explores issues about truth and fraudulence, and their inextricability from questions of literary genre, with special self-consciousness in his tragicomedies, in particular The Winter's Tale, and also in Othello.

Full Text

Published Version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.