Skip to content
Home/ Houses of Correction: Carceral Institutions and Humanist Culture in Early Modern England
Houses of Correction: Carceral Institutions and Humanist Culture in Early Modern England
Save Ask us
Published
Apr 7, 2026
ISBN-13
9781512828993

Houses of Correction: Carceral Institutions and Humanist Culture in Early Modern England

No customer reviews yet ISBN 9781512828993

The first book-length literary history of some of early modern Europe's most influential carceral institutions, including England's Bridewell

More than 250 years before the rise of the modern penitentiary, houses of correction pioneered the use of forced labor and individualized sentences within institutions of confinement, promoting reform and the "hope of amendment" for every individual. Yet these earlier carceral institutions faced many of the problems that remain familiar today: corruption scandals, recidivism, and abuses of power.

In Houses of Correction, Matthew Ritger turns to the archives of England's first house of correction, Bridewell, to show how humanist reformers provided ideas, justifications, and administration for what came to be called bridewells, workhouses, and "Literary worke-houses," even as repeated scandals made it clear that these coercive institutions would forever be at odds with the ideals of humanist culture. Examining how the work of writers including More, Shakespeare, and Milton dealt with humanism's entanglements with these new prisons, Houses of Correction constructs the first book-length literary history of some of early modern Europe's most influential carceral institutions.

Product details

Pub dateApr 7, 2026
ISBN-101512828998
ISBN-139781512828993
LanguageEnglish
Last updated 2026-04-24 14:13
$64.12 $65.00 1% off
You save $0.88 · list price $65.00
In stock — ships in 24 hours with free tracking
Delivery by Monday, October 26, 2026
Qty
Sign in to Add to Saved list
Free delivery on orders over $35.
15-day returns. Any reason.
Secure checkout. We never store card details.

Readers who bought this also bought

More from Literary Criticism | Modern | 17th Century
See all
Milton in Translation
<em>Milton in Translation</em> represents an unprecedented collaboration that demonstrates the breadth of John Milton's international reception, from the seventeenth century through today. This book collects in one volume new essays written on the translation of Milton's works written by an international roster of experts: stalwart and career-long Miltonists, scholars primarily of translation studies, and practitioners who have translated Milton's works. Chapters are grouped geographically but also, by and large, chronologically, given that Milton's works radiated further abroad over time. The chapters on the twenty-three individual languages showcased in this volume are framed by 'Part I: Approaches', consisting of an introduction and two major essays on the global reach and the aural nature of Milton's poetry, and by an epilogue. 'Part II: Influential Translations' features the most influential languages in translations of Milton's works (English, Latin, German, French). Then, accounts of Milton's afterlives in specific languages are provided in 'Part III. Western European and Latin American Translations' (Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Icelandic, Italian, Portuguese, European Spanish, Latin American Spanish), 'Part IV: Central and Eastern European Translations' (Bulgarian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Serbian/Montenegrin, Serbo-Croatian languages), 'Part V: Middle Eastern Translations' (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian), and 'Part VI: East Asian Translations' (Chinese, Japanese, Korean). The chapters in Parts II through VI include historical and critical context, a brief history of translation in the language, and a case study on any single work or group of Milton's works in translation.
$69.43