Sixteenth-Century Identities

This study investigates ideas of self in relation to place, politics, religion and rhetoric.

Concentrating on the early part of the century, it shows how humankind's perception of itself shifts as the influx of Renaissance ideas impinge externally and philosophical ideas engineer change internally.

The fundamental shifts which bring the early modern subject into being are closely charted, culminating in the rise of the autobiographical, self-regarding subject.