Title The fringes of belief : English literature, ancient heresy, and the politics of freethinking, 1660-1760 / Sarah Ellenzweig

Published Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, ©2008

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 240 pages) Contents Introduction : literary culture, the classical past, and the rise of Restoration freethinking -- Libertine precursors. Rochester, Blount, and the faith of unbelief -- Behn, Fontenelle, and the cheats of revealed religion -- Skepticism and piety. Swift's Tale of a tub and the anthropology of religion -- Suspending disbelief : Swift, credulity, and the pious fraud -- Conclusion : Pope's "Essay on man" and the afterlife of English freethinking Summary A literary study of freethinking and religious skepticism in the English Enlightenment. Ellenzweig argues that a literature of English freethinking has been overlooked because it unexpectedly supported aspects of institutional religion. She analyzes works by, among others, John Wilmot, Aphra Behn, Swift and Pope Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-227) and index Notes Print version record Subject Christianity and literature -- England -- History -- 17th century Christianity and literature -- England -- History -- 18th century English literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism English literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism Free thought in literature. Free thought -- England -- History -- 17th century Free thought -- England -- History -- 18th century LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh. LITERARY CRITICISM / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Christianity and literature English literature English literature -- Early modern Free thought Free thought in literature England Genre/Form Electronic books Criticism, interpretation, etc. History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780804769792 0804769796 0804758778 9780804758772

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