SOURCE: Holbrook, Peter. “‘Playing the Knave’: Social Symbolism and Interplay in Thomas Nashe—Pierce Penilesse.” In Literature and Degree in Renaissance England: Nashe, Bourgeois Tragedy, Shakespeare, pp. 27-85. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1994.
In this excerpt, Holbrook discusses how Nashe navigated high and low social and rhetorical positions in Pierce Penilesse. The critic argues that although Nashe was adept at using low and popular voices in his writing, his social viewpoint does not generally reflect a truly populist position.
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