Details

Subject(s)

• Spain—Armed Forces—Military life [Browse]
• Autobiography [Browse]
• Honor in literature [Browse]
• Honor—Spain—History [Browse]
• Military biography [Browse]
• Soldiers—Spain—Biography—History and criticism [Browse]
• Soldiers' writings, Spanish—History and criticism [Browse]

Series

Toronto Iberic

Summary note

"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.

Source of description

Description based on print version record.

Language note

In English.

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 Pícaro
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Works Cited
• Index

Show 6 more Contents items

ISBN

• 1-4875-3545-7
• 1-4875-3544-9

OCLC

1145826652

Doi

• 10.3138/9781487535445

Statement on language in description

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