Coinage and State Formation in Early Modern English Literature

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

   PDF

2. Introduction: Rough Economies—The Politics and Poetics of Coinage

   • Stephen Deng

   Pages 1-22

3. Dimensions of State Formation

   • Stephen Deng

   Pages 23-58

4. More’s Utopia and the Logic of Debasement: Reason, Custom, and Natural Laws of Coinage

   • Stephen Deng

   Pages 59-86

5. The Great Debasement and Its Aftermath

   • Stephen Deng

   Pages 87-102

6. Coining Crimes and Moral Regulation in Measure for Measure

   • Stephen Deng

   Pages 103-133

7. “Mysteries of State”: The Political Theology of Coinage in Macbeth

   • Stephen Deng

   Pages 135-160

8. Foreign Coins and Domestic Exclusion in Thomas Dekker’s The Shoemaker’s Holiday

   • Stephen Deng

   Pages 161-186

9. Conclusion: The Changing Matter of Money

   • Stephen Deng

   Pages 187-195

10. Back Matter

    Pages 197-268

    PDF

A reassessment of the historic relation between money and the state through the lens of early modern English literature, Coinage and State Formation examines the political implications of the monetary form in light of material and visual properties of coins as well as the persistence of both intrinsic and extrinsic theories of value.

• British and Irish Literature

"A pertinent and timely intervention in the debate concerning the nature of money in Renaissance England. Through an impressively broad array of literary and cultural readings, Deng clearly establishes the vital role money played in the process of state formation. His insights into the relation between coinage and idolatry, tyranny, and the ethics of representation have obvious repercussions for our own age, and make this book important to anyone concerned about the current state of capitalism. This book is sure to remain influential on literary and economic studies for many years to come." - David Hawkes, Professor of English, Arizona State University

"Deng s book offers a detailed and fresh reappraisal of early modern coinage - what both Shakespeare and Marx call the visible god - as the turnstile through which radically opposed concepts of matter and spirit, economics and religion, and intrinsic and extrinsic value endlessly circulate. Deng s singular contribution is to show how this circulation subtends modern formations of nationhood and sovereignty." - Jonathan Gil Harris, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies Department of English, George Washington University

STEPHEN DENG is an Assistant Professor of English at Michigan State University, USA. 

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