Research Catalog

Title

Front lines : soldiers' writing in the early modern Hispanic world / Miguel Martínez.

Author

Martínez, Miguel 1980-

Publication

• Philadelphia : PENN, University of Pennsylvania Press, [2016]
• ©2016

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

309 pages : illustrations, 1 map; 24 cm

Summary

"In Front Lines, Miguel Martínez documents the literary practices of imperial Spain's common soldiers, who against all odds produced, distributed, and consumed a remarkably innovative set of works on war that have been almost completely neglected by scholars. The soldiers of Italian garrisons and North African presidios, on colonial American frontiers and in the traveling military camps of northern Europe read and wrote epic poems, chronicles, ballads, pamphlets, and autobiographiesthe stories of the very same wars in which they participated as rank-and-file fighters and witnesses. The vast network of agents and spaces articulated around the military institutions of an ever-expanding and struggling Spanish empire facilitated the global circulation of these textual materials, creating a soldierly republic of letters that bridged the Old and the many New Worlds of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Martínez asserts that these writing soldiers played a key role in the shaping of Renaissance literary culture, which for its part gave to them the language and forms with which to question received notions of the social logic of warfare, the ethics of violence, and the legitimacy of imperial aggression. Soldierly writing often voiced criticism of established hierarchies and exploitative working conditions, forging solidarities among the troops that often led to mutiny and massive desertion. It is the perspective of these soldiers that grounds Front Lines, a cultural history of Spain's imperial wars as told by the common men who fought them"--Dust jacket flaps.

Series Statement

Material texts

Uniform Title

Material texts.

Subject

• Soldiers' writings, Spanish > History and criticism
• Soldiers as authors > Spain > History > 16th century
• Spanish literature > Classical period, 1500-1700 > History and criticism
• Epic poetry, Spanish > History and criticism
• Soldiers in literature
• War in literature

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-296) and index.

Contents

Introduction : the muses' comrades -- The soldiers' republic of letters -- The truth about war -- Rebellion, captivity, and survival -- New World war -- Home from war -- Epilogue.

Call Number

JFE 16-11912

ISBN

• 9780812248425
• 0812248422

OCLC

950955790

Author

Martínez, Miguel 1980- author.

Title

Front lines : soldiers' writing in the early modern Hispanic world / Miguel Martínez.

Publisher

Philadelphia : PENN, University of Pennsylvania Press, [2016]

Copyright Date

©2016

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Material texts

Material texts.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-296) and index.

Research Call Number

JFE 16-11912