Description: Adam Usk's Secret by Steven Justice Adam Usk, a fifteenth-century professor, royal advisor, schismatic, and spy, wrote a peculiar book in a reticent, nervous prose better suited to keeping secrets than setting them in writing. Steven Justice sets out to find what Usk wanted to hide and comes to surprising conclusions about the foundations of literary and historical study. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Adam Usk, a Welsh lawyer in England and Rome during the first years of the fifteenth century, lived a peculiar life. He was, by turns, a professor, a royal advisor, a traitor, a schismatic, and a spy. He cultivated and then sabotaged figures of great influence, switching allegiances between kings, upstarts, and popes at an astonishing pace. Usk also wrote a peculiar book: a chronicle of his own times, composed in a strangely anxious and secretive voice that seems better designed to withhold vital facts than to recount them. His bold starts tumble into anticlimax; he interrupts what he starts to tell and omits what he might have told. Yet the kind of secrets a political man might find safer to keep-the schemes and violence of regime change-Usk tells openly.Steven Justice sets out to find what it was that Adam Usk wanted to hide. His search takes surprising turns through acts of political violence, persecution, censorship, and, ultimately, literary history. Adam Usks narrow, eccentric literary genius calls into question some of the most casual and confident assumptions of literary criticism and historiography, making stale rhetorical habits seem new. Adam Usks Secret concludes with a sharp challenge to historians over what they think they can know about literature-and to literary scholars over what they think they can know about history. Author Biography Steven Justice is Chancellors Professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Writing and Rebellion: England in 1381. Table of Contents IntroductionChapter 1. The First SecretChapter 2. The Story of William ClerkChapter 3. FearChapter 4. ProphecyChapter 5. UtilityChapter 6. GriefChapter 7. Theory of HistoryChapter 8. Adam Usks SecretConclusionList of AbbreviationsNotesBibliographyIndexAcknowledgments Review "In prose that is extraordinarily alive both to its subject and to its own suspenseful disclosures, Steven Justice teaches us to read a Latin chronicle as a piece of written craft, and few have sustained that attention this far or this finely. More importantly, Justice assesses and advances major principles of narrative interpretation, concerning how narratives relate to contexts, how rhetorical traditions foster or undermine particular visions of history, and how the discipline of literary analysis maintains a delicate balance between rigorous adherence to its established tenets and wider connections to other questions and explanations-matters that must surely energize discussion among humanities scholars of all periods." * Andrew Galloway, Cornell University * Promotional Adam Usk, a fifteenth-century professor, royal advisor, schismatic, and spy, wrote a peculiar book in a reticent, nervous prose better suited to keeping secrets than setting them in writing. Steven Justice sets out to find what Usk wanted to hide and comes to surprising conclusions about the foundations of literary and historical study. Long Description Adam Usk, a Welsh lawyer in England and Rome during the first years of the fifteenth century, lived a peculiar life. He was, by turns, a professor, a royal advisor, a traitor, a schismatic, and a spy. He cultivated and then sabotaged figures of great influence, switching allegiances between kings, upstarts, and popes at an astonishing pace. Usk also wrote a peculiar book: a chronicle of his own times, composed in a strangely anxious and secretive voice that seems better designed to withhold vital facts than to recount them. His bold starts tumble into anticlimax; he interrupts what he starts to tell and omits what he might have told. Yet the kind of secrets a political man might find safer to keep--the schemes and violence of regime change--Usk tells openly. Steven Justice sets out to find what it was that Adam Usk wanted to hide. His search takes surprising turns through acts of political violence, persecution, censorship, and, ultimately, literary history. Adam Usks narrow, eccentric literary genius calls into question some of the most casual and confident assumptions of literary criticism and historiography, making stale rhetorical habits seem new. Adam Usks Secret concludes with a sharp challenge to historians over what they think they can know about literature--and to literary scholars over what they think they can know about history. Review Quote "In prose that is extraordinarily alive both to its subject and to its own suspenseful disclosures, Steven Justice teaches us to read a Latin chronicle as a piece of written craft, and no one has sustained that attention this far or this finely. A major general principle is moreover unfolded here concerning how narratives relate to context that will surely motivate energizing and enduring discussion among humanities scholars of all persuasions."--Andrew Galloway, Cornell University Promotional "Headline" Adam Usk, a fifteenth-century professor, royal advisor, schismatic, and spy, wrote a peculiar book in a reticent, nervous prose better suited to keeping secrets than setting them in writing. Steven Justice sets out to find what Usk wanted to hide and comes to surprising conclusions about the foundations of literary and historical study. Details ISBN0812246934 Author Steven Justice Short Title ADAM USKS SECRET Publisher University of Pennsylvania Press Language English ISBN-10 0812246934 ISBN-13 9780812246933 Media Book Format Hardcover Birth 1957 Year 2015 Pages 224 Imprint University of Pennsylvania Press Place of Publication Pennsylvania Country of Publication United States UK Release Date 2015-03-25 AU Release Date 2015-03-25 NZ Release Date 2015-03-25 US Release Date 2015-03-25 Illustrator Stephanie Fizer Coleman Translator David E. Green Affiliation Yunnan Univ, China Position Assistant Professor Qualifications PsyD Series The Middle Ages Series Publication Date 2015-03-25 Alternative 9780812291056 DEWEY 942.9038092 Audience Undergraduate We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:161722117;
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ISBN-13: 9780812246933
Book Title: Adam Usk's Secret
Item Height: 229mm
Item Width: 152mm
Author: Steven Justice
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Topic: Literature, History
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Publication Year: 2015
Type: Textbook
Number of Pages: 224 Pages