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E-book
Author Harden, Faith S., 1980- author.

Title Arms and letters : military life writing in early modern Spain / Faith S. Harden
Published Toronto ; Buffalo ; London : University of Toronto Press, 2020

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Description 1 online resource
Series Toronto Iberic series ; 53
Toronto Iberic ; 53.
Contents Introduction: Arms and Letters -- 1 Virtue, Honour, and Exemplarity -- 2 Professional Honour and the Production of Knowledge -- 3 Spiritual Honour and Religious Authority -- 4 Playing the PĂ­caro -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index
Summary "Arms and Letters analyses the unprecedented number of autobiographical accounts written by Spanish soldiers during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These first-person retrospective works recount a range of experiences throughout the sprawling domain of the Hispanic monarchy. Reading a selection of autobiographies in contemporary historical context - including the coalescing of the first modern armies, which were partially populated by forced recruits and the urban poor - Faith S. Harden explains how soldiers adapted the concept of honour and contributed to the burgeoning autobiographical form. Harden argues that Spanish military life writing took two broad forms: the first as a petition, wherein the soldier's service was presented as a debt of honour, and second, as a series of misadventures, staging honour as a spectacle that captivated an audience. Honour was inevitably gendered and performative, and as such, it functioned as one of the overarching metrics of value that early modern men and women applied to themselves and others. In charting how non-elite subjects rendered their lives legitimate through autobiography, Arms and Letters contributes both to a critical genealogy of honour and to the history of life writing."-- Provided by publisher
Analysis Renaissance
Spanish literature
autobiography
chivalric
early modern
honor
honour
life
literature
memoirs
military
novel
picaresque novel
self-fashioning
soldiers
war
writing
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Text in English; includes some text in Spanish
Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on November 20, 2020)
Subject Soldiers' writings, Spanish -- History and criticism
Soldiers as authors -- Spain -- History -- 16th century
Soldiers as authors -- Spain -- History -- 17th century
Honor -- Spain -- History
Honor in literature.
Soldiers in literature.
Autobiography.
Autobiographies as Topic
autobiography (genre)
HISTORY / Europe / Spain & Portugal
Armed Forces -- Biography
Armed Forces -- Military life
Autobiography
Honor
Honor in literature
Military biography
Soldiers -- Biography
Soldiers' writings, Spanish
SUBJECT Spain -- Armed Forces -- Military life
Subject Spain
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc.
History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781487535452
1487535457
1487535449
9781487535445