The textuality of friendship: homosocial hermeneutic exchanges in early modern English drama
Date
07/12/2018Author
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Abstract
My thesis argues that textually embedded intimacy and exclusivity between men opens
up ethical problems concerning the use of education and persuasive powers—the ability to
reconfigure vice as virtue, to argue a case for transgressions, and to navigate political,
economic, and social spheres for personal self-advancement.
My argument is based first on the proposition that masculine elite friendship in the
early modern period is situated in specific pedagogical practices, engagement with particular
rhetorical manuals and classical texts, and manipulation of texts which determine the
affectionate, ‘textual’, nature of these relationships. From this, I propose, second, that a
hermeneutic process of rhetorical and poetic composition and exclusionary understanding is
embedded within these textual relationships. From these two propositions, I analyse the
textual surface of homosocial relationships in order to ask questions about ethical dilemmas
concerning the forms of power they represent.
How can an enclosed system of affection be useful for political, social, or financial
advancement by making a vice (self-interest) of a virtue (fidelity), a dubious idea in the early
modern period? How are homosocial networks developed and depicted through an
engagement with their own textuality? Are they shown as transgressive and dangerous in
further marginalizing those who are not privy to the system of textual exchange between
men?
The creation of homosocial male friendships is predicated on the idea that there are
shared texts and methodologies for internalizing ideas from classical sources (imitatio) and
for using these as starting points for the creation of arguments (inventio) to suit social,
political, and even domestic situations. I focus on fictitious relationships developed in early
modern English drama—as playwrights represent masculine discourse, textual knowledge, and
rhetorical techniques. The friendships and fellowships in these dramatic productions contain
questions about the use of masculine networks in socio-political and economic navigation.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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