Sleep, Romance and Human Embodiment: Vitality from Spenser to Milton

by Garrett A. Sullivan Jr

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.

218 pages, Hardcover

First published July 31, 2012

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought this was rly original, but the core argument sets itself up almost *too* neatly? The framework only works by operating through a connection between genre (e.g. romance) and philosophy (e.g. Aristotle's tripartite soul & the different kinds of vitality it engenders). Except the former pre-dates the latter by *a lot*.... but yes other than that the actual book itself was...good....