Mortal Thoughts Religion, Secularity, & Identity in Shakespeare and Early Modern Culture

Mortal Thoughts is a study of the question of human identity in the early modern period. It examines literature (Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton) alongside emerging forms of life writing (More, Foxe, and Montaigne) and also life drawing and self-portraits (Dürer, Hans Baldung Grien). It questions the religious and secular divide, and the way that historical narratives are poised around the concept of secularization. It does so by examining mortalityand the moment of death. A series of chapters examine religious, philosophical and literary concepts such as conscience, martyrdom, soliloquy, chance, suicide and embodiment. Mortal Thoughts is a study in literaryand artistic history which also challenges assumptions in the history of philosophy and religion.