{"product_id":"rochester-and-the-pursuit-of-pleasure-paperback","title":"Rochester and the Pursuit of Pleasure - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eLarry D. Carver\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eRochester and the pursuit of pleasure \u003c\/i\u003eprovides a reading of Rochester's poems, dramatic works, and letters in a biographical context. In doing so, it sheds light on a central vexed issue in Rochester criticism, the relationship of the poet to his speaker. It also reveals that Rochester's work clusters about a central theme, the pursuit of pleasure, a pursuit motivated by a courtship of purity that grew out of Rochester's Christian and God-fearing upbringing. This rhetoric of courtship, in turn, reveals the unity of Rochester's work as the courtier and his various personae try to persuade his audiences, secular and divine, of his worth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eRochester and the pursuit of pleasure\u003c\/i\u003e, the fourth full-length study of Rochester's work since David Vieth's pioneering edition of \u003ci\u003eThe Compete Poems\u003c\/i\u003e (1968), is the first to bring together a reading of John Wilmot's poetry, dramatic works, and letters. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The book provides a reading of Rochester's work in a biographical context. Though a biographical interpretation is fraught with risks, theoretically and in terms of the surviving literary and biographical material, in doing so, Carver shows the role that biography plays in interpreting Rochester's work and illuminates a central problem in Rochester criticism: the relationship of poet to his speakers. This in turn reveals that Rochester's works cluster about a central theme - the pursuit of pleasure - a complex process in which many of Rochester's mid-seventeenth century contemporaries were engaged. No longer sure under the old dispensation of their duties - familial, political, religious, or artistic - they sought new grounds for their motivations. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e For Rochester this pursuit of pleasure has its roots in Christianity. Rochester's work reflects his Christian and God-fearing upbringing and provides evidence of an excessive preoccupation with, and, at the end of his life, acceptance of Christianity. As the various speakers and Rochester himself pursue pleasure by courting king, wife, mistresses, and the craft of writing, they in humorous, perverse, and even criminal ways court God.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eLarry Carver is Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at the University of Texas at Austin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 280\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.57 x 9.21 x 6.14 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e January 20, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53329576395059,"sku":"9781526195470","price":70.18,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/xEQuPsALom9781526195470.webp?v=1778171227","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/en-ca\/products\/rochester-and-the-pursuit-of-pleasure-paperback","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}