CFP: Labor and Early Modern English Literature (5/15/05; RSA, 3/23/06-3/25/06)
For the Annual Renaissance Society of America conference in San Francisco,
March 23-25, 2006.
Labor and Early Modern English Literature
The canon of early English literature is full of professional playwrights and
gentlemen who wrote in their spare time. The history of English literature,
however, also includes artisans-writers and performers. Indeed, some of the
earliest English drama was performed (and perhaps written in part by) members
of the various Guilds that made up the laboring class of English society. This
panel will focus on the voices of such writers in their own words or as those
voices are registered in the drama, poetry, and prose of the period.