Milton’s Italy: Anglo-Italian Literature, Travel, and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England. Catherine Gimelli Martin. Routledge Series in Renaissance Literature and Culture. London: Routledge, 2017. xvi + 318 pp. $140.
Samson Agonistes, though not a flaw per se, is a bit surprising, as is the limited presence of the early poetry. The notion that the mature Milton was fully committed to heretical monism, though certainly debatable, speaks to the importance of investigating the materialism of the youngMilton. Like the divorce tracts, the antiprelatical tracts—a treasure trove for materialist inquiry—are an instructive bridge between the young and mature poet-theologian. Regardless, Milton, Materialism, and Embodiment provides strong, diverse examples of approaches to future scholarship on Milton’s materialism, which will encourage readers to generate their own paradigms.