{"product_id":"lines-of-equity-elliott-visconsi-9780801446726","title":"Lines of Equity: Literature and the Origins of Law in Later Stuart England","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe late seventeenth century was a period of major crises in science, politics, and economics in England. Confronted by a public that seemed to be sunk in barbarism and violence, English writers including John Milton, John Dryden, and Aphra Behn imagined serious literature as an instrument for change. In \u003ci\u003eLines of Equity\u003c\/i\u003e, Elliott Visconsi reveals how these writers fictionalized the original utterance of laws, the foundation of states, and the many vivid contemporary transitions from archaic savagery to civil modernity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn their writings, they considered the nature of government, the extent of the rule of law, and the duties of sovereign and subject. They asked their audience to think like kings and judges: through the literary education of the individual conscience, the barbarous tendencies of the English people might be effectively banished. Visconsi calls this fictionalizing program \"imaginative originalism,\" and demonstrates the often unintended consequences of this literary enterprise.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy inviting the English people to practice equity as a habit of thought, a work such as Milton's \u003ci\u003eParadise Lost\u003c\/i\u003e helped bring into being a mode of individual conduct--the rights-bearing deliberative subject--at the heart of political liberalism. Visconsi offers an original view of this transitional moment that will appeal to anyone interested in the cultural history of law and citizenship, the idea of legal origins in the early modern period, and the literary history of later Stuart England.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Elliott Visconsi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0801446724\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780801446726\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Cornell University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/15\/2008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 232\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.98lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.04h x 6.41w x 0.78d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChronicle of Higher Education\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/05\/2008 pg. 20\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eReference and Research Bk News\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/01\/2008 pg. 263","brand":"Elliott Visconsi","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46420225982719,"sku":"9780801446726","price":56.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_d3e16138-ead7-4d92-b604-326b05c93003.jpg?v=1734634009","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/lines-of-equity-elliott-visconsi-9780801446726","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}