'Speaking Well of the Dead : The Role of Biography in the Early Modern Funeral Sermon'
Penny Pritchard
N106
About the event
Event type: Seminar
Funeral sermons offer tremendous scope for how we may better understand developing concepts of narrative and genre in early modern England. Certain inherent features of published funeral sermons - such as the selective inclusion of biographical details related to the deceased subject's 'character' - are strikingly comparable to contemporary works of fiction. A host of other 'literary' features are equally apparent in the form's diverse commemoration of the life, death and character of the deceased, including vividly detailed deathbed episodes (some of which include dialogue), portrayal of multiple points of view through eyewitness 'testimonials', and the inclusion of poetry, correspondence and journal entries. All of these features invite us not only to re-examine the shared origins of Protestant funeral sermons with other, ostensibly more popular forms of imaginative writing, but also a cultural milieu which continued to value so highly the edifying qualities of life and death scrutinised in minute detail, regardless of whether or not the subject ever existed. This paper will explore some of the opportunities - and caveats - for analysis of biographical narrative and characterisation in a more encompassing spectrum of early modern literature which includes both fictional and non-fictional writing, including funeral sermons.