Sleep, Romance and Human Embodiment
Vitality from Spenser to Milton

Sullivan explores the impact of Aristotelian and Cartesian conceptions of humanness on works by Shakespeare, Spenser, Milton and Sidney.

Garrett A. Sullivan, Jr (Author)

9781316505335, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 December 2015

218 pages
23 x 15 x 1 cm, 0.32 kg

'… a scholarly, intelligent and provocative study that raises many important questions about the relationship between genre and content that are certain to invite further debate.' Richard A. McCabe, Milton Quarterly

Garrett Sullivan explores the changing impact of Aristotelian conceptions of vitality and humanness on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literature before and after the rise of Descartes. Aristotle's tripartite soul is usually considered in relation to concepts of psychology and physiology. However, Sullivan argues that its significance is much greater, constituting a theory of vitality that simultaneously distinguishes man from, and connects him to, other forms of life. He contends that, in works such as Sidney's Old Arcadia, Shakespeare's Henry IV and Henry V, Spenser's Faerie Queene, Milton's Paradise Lost and Dryden's All for Love, the genres of epic and romance, whose operations are informed by Aristotle's theory, provide the raw materials for exploring different models of humanness; and that sleep is the vehicle for such exploration as it blurs distinctions among man, plant and animal.

Introduction
Part I. Aristotelian Vitality Ascendant: 1. 'Both plant and beast together': temperance, vitality and the romance alternative in Spenser's Bower of Bliss
2. Sleeping minds: romance, affect and environment in Sidney's The Old Arcadia
3. Sleep, history and 'life indeed' in Shakespeare's 1 and 2 Henry IV and Henry V
Part II. Aristotelian Vitality Embattled: 4. 'From the root springs lighter the green stalk': vegetality and humanness in Milton's Paradise Lost
Part III. Aristotelian Vitality Undead: 5. 'Desperate sloth, miscalled philosophy': Descartes and the post-Aristotelian romance episode in Dryden's All for Love
Coda: beyond undeath.

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: Medieval & Renaissance, c 500 to c 1600 [HPCB], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD]