Forming Sleep

Forming Sleep: Representing Consciousness in the English Renaissance, Volume 1, explores the complex intersection of biocultural and literary dynamics during the early modern period. This academic work examines how English poetry, drama, and prose written between 1580 and 1670 shaped conceptions of sleep. By analyzing sleep states as a means of defining the human condition, the text investigates how seemingly insentient moments enable self-formation. The collection utilizes diverse frameworks, including biopolitics, Marxist theory, and affect theory, to interpret how sleep functions both literally and metaphorically within historical literature.

The essays in Forming Sleep: Representing Consciousness in the English Renaissance, Volume 1, engage with various archival sources such as medical treatises, faculty psychology, and manuscript notes. Scholars apply classical and contemporary philosophy to genres ranging from secular lyric to religious verse. This study of English literature and history provides a deep look at how early modern depictions of sleep interact with medical, political, and formal discourses. It remains a significant resource for those studying consciousness in literature and early modern history.