Essay --

Otto Boudet Ms. Ramirez British Literature 1600 4 December 2013 The Mind of Thomas Nashe: An Enigma Thomas Nashe is thought to be one of the world’s first picaresque writers. Although he is a picaresque writer, critics have a hard time characterizing his works due to his incoherent literary structure. Thomas Nashe has been pinned as an enigma of the literary community as his writing often portrays multiple writing styles all at once. â€Å"The Unfortunate Traveller† is the epitome of this. It is categorized as a picaresque novel, but it is a gruesome and violent story. The story is almost a paradox itself. Thomas Nashe, born in 1567, lived in the small town of Lowestroft, Suffolk. Not much is known of his early life, other than that his father was a curate and that he was baptized at his father’s church. He went on to study at the University of St. Johns at Cambridge where he acquired his bachelors degree. Little is known on whether his time at college influenced his works. After his time at college he moved to London, where he was hired by the ecclesiastical authorities to write pamphlets and essays in an attempt to discredit a man know as â€Å"Martin Marprelate† (Kinney Page 1). This alias was used by a man who was writing colloquial speeches regarding the episcopacy of the Anglican Church. Nashe might have not been one of the main contributors to the counterattack against â€Å"Martin Marprelate,† but he was able to extract a sort of writing style from the experience. After his excursion with the Anglican Church, his writing became more spontaneous and unstudied (Donno Page 1). This spontaneous and unstudied style was more prominent in his early works such as â€Å"The Anatomie of Unsertantie" and the preface of Robert Greene’s â€Å"Menapho... ...e Unfortunate Traveller.† What angered the writers the most, was the accuracy of what Thomas Nashe was saying, even if it was in a sarcastic tone. Not only did he anger authors, poets, and pamphleteers, but he also angered the British government. Although his jeers were not directed towards the government, Nashe’s use of the atrocities throughout the country was thoroughly disliked. The government believed that his rendition of the gross actions of England’s people would tarnish its reputation. Thomas Nashe is coined with being one of the world’s first picaresque writers. It is quite ironic how after centuries of debate concerning his eloquent pamphlets and gruesome narratives that he is now categorized under a satirical genre. Although he did incorporate this satire and sarcasm in many of works, it seems unjust to confine him to the one genre.