Abstract: ‘“To Creep Into the Bowels of Our Own Kingdom”: Familism, Disease, and the Body Politic in John Marston’s The Dutch Courtesan’ (Fleck)
Dublin Core
Title
Abstract: ‘“To Creep Into the Bowels of Our Own Kingdom”: Familism, Disease, and the Body Politic in John Marston’s The Dutch Courtesan’ (Fleck)
Subject
The Dutch Courtesan, "Marston, John", Dutch Courtesan 2019, Toronto Dutch Courtesan, conference abstract, early modern drama, non-Shakespearean drama, Familism, the Family of Love
Description
Abstract for Andrew Fleck's ‘“To Creep Into the Bowels of Our Own Kingdom”: Familism, Disease, and the Body Politic in John Marston’s The Dutch Courtesan’. Includes biography for Fleck.
Creator
"Fleck, Andrew"
Date
2019-03-22, 1605, 17th century
Contributor
Dutch Courtesan 2019 project team
Relation
The Dutch Courtesan
Format
.pdf (116KB)
Language
en-CA
Type
Text Object
Identifier
DC2019-0005
Coverage
Toronto (CA), London (UK), 2019-03-22-23, 1605, 17th century
Date Available
2019-06-30
Date Created
2019-03
References
The Dutch Courtesan
Extent
116KB
Medium
Digital PDF
Bibliographic Citation
Fleck, Andrew. '"To Creep Into the Bowels of Our Own Kingdom": Familism, Disease, and the Body Politic in John Marston’s The Dutch Courtesan'. Abstract. 'Strangers and Aliens in London and Toronto: Sex, Religion, and Xenophobia in John Marston's The Dutch Courtesan'. DC2019-0005. Dutch Courtesan 2019. Toronto, March 2019. https://dutchcourtesan2019.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/23
Spatial Coverage
Toronto (CA), London (UK)
Temporal Coverage
2019-03-22, 1605, 17th century
Accrual Method
Materials solicited by the Dutch Courtesan project team.
Accrual Periodicity
Infrequently updated after 2019.
Audience
researchers, researchers of early modern drama, university instructors, undergraduate students, graduate students
Audience Education Level
Post-Secondary, Graduate, Post-Graduate
Instructional Method
large-group instruction, small-group instruction, independent research
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
‘“To Creep Into the Bowels of Our Own Kingdom”: Familism, Disease, and the Body Politic in John Marston’s The Dutch Courtesan’ (Panel 2: Religion as Foreign Invasion – 11:30AM-1:30PM, 22 March 2019)
Andrew Fleck (University of Texas at El Paso)
John Marston’s Dutch Courtesan has recently been read within the context of broad Protestant Apocalypticism, at the expense of the national interests of an English playwright writing a London city comedy for a primarily English audience. And yet, The Dutch Courtesan does blur the boundaries of national identity, with both English and non-English characters who profess adherence to the heterodox sect known as the Family of Love. Familism, as it is sometimes called, had its origins in the Low Countries and came to England, as many unorthodox religious outlooks did, with migration spurred by Continental Catholic persecution. Such imported religious views were often described as an “infection” by those who sought to maintain the Church of England’s hierarchical control over the spectrum of belief and practice in early modern England. In this paper, taking the
play’s references to disease and health of the body as a way of thinking about the larger body politic, I argue that despite the blurring of differences that seems to occur with the introduction of Familism into a brothel in London’s liberties, Marston’s play does eventually demarcate national
differences that preserve a sense of English identity by the end of his comedy.
Andrew Fleck is associate professor of English at the University of Texas in El Paso. He is the editor of Explorations in Renaissance Culture, a journal associated with the RSA's regional South-Central Renaissance Conference (he's always looking for good submissions and would love to hear from you about your work). He works on the Dutch in the English imagination, having published a note on The Dutch Courtesan in American Notes and Queries and longer essays in Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900; Shakespeare Yearbook; and Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England. The monograph he’s working on is called The Dutch Device: English Representations of the Dutch 1588-1688.
The Dutch Courtesan figures importantly in one of its chapters.
Andrew Fleck (University of Texas at El Paso)
John Marston’s Dutch Courtesan has recently been read within the context of broad Protestant Apocalypticism, at the expense of the national interests of an English playwright writing a London city comedy for a primarily English audience. And yet, The Dutch Courtesan does blur the boundaries of national identity, with both English and non-English characters who profess adherence to the heterodox sect known as the Family of Love. Familism, as it is sometimes called, had its origins in the Low Countries and came to England, as many unorthodox religious outlooks did, with migration spurred by Continental Catholic persecution. Such imported religious views were often described as an “infection” by those who sought to maintain the Church of England’s hierarchical control over the spectrum of belief and practice in early modern England. In this paper, taking the
play’s references to disease and health of the body as a way of thinking about the larger body politic, I argue that despite the blurring of differences that seems to occur with the introduction of Familism into a brothel in London’s liberties, Marston’s play does eventually demarcate national
differences that preserve a sense of English identity by the end of his comedy.
Andrew Fleck is associate professor of English at the University of Texas in El Paso. He is the editor of Explorations in Renaissance Culture, a journal associated with the RSA's regional South-Central Renaissance Conference (he's always looking for good submissions and would love to hear from you about your work). He works on the Dutch in the English imagination, having published a note on The Dutch Courtesan in American Notes and Queries and longer essays in Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900; Shakespeare Yearbook; and Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England. The monograph he’s working on is called The Dutch Device: English Representations of the Dutch 1588-1688.
The Dutch Courtesan figures importantly in one of its chapters.
Original Format
PDF
Files
Citation
"Fleck, Andrew", “Abstract: ‘“To Creep Into the Bowels of Our Own Kingdom”: Familism, Disease, and the Body Politic in John Marston’s The Dutch Courtesan’ (Fleck),” Dutch Courtesan 2019, accessed April 23, 2025, https://dutchcourtesan2019.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/23.
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