- Nashe also spelled:
- Nash
- Born:
- 1567, Lowestoft, Suffolk, Eng.
- Died:
- c. 1601, Yarmouth, Norfolk?
- Movement / Style:
- University Wits
Thomas Nashe
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Who was Thomas Nashe?
Thomas Nashe (1567–c. 1601) was an English pamphleteer, poet, and dramatist, known for The Unfortunate Traveller; or, The Life of Jacke Wilton (1594), considered the first picaresque novel in English.
Nashe was educated at the University of Cambridge and later became associated with Robert Greene and other writers in London around 1588. Nashe satirized Gabriel Harvey and his brothers in Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Divell (1592), Strange Newes (1592), and Have with You to Saffron-Walden (1596). In 1597, Nashe and Ben Jonson were prosecuted as a result of their satirical play The Isle of Dogs.
Nashe's other notable works include Summers Last Will and Testament (1592), Dido, Queen of Carthage (1594, with Christopher Marlowe), and Nashes Lenten Stuffe (1599).
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What time period did Thomas Nashe live in?
Thomas Nashe, an English pamphleteer, poet, and dramatist, lived from 1567 to approximately 1601. Nashe's lifetime corresponds to the Elizabethan Age (1558–1603), a period of artistic, literary, and intellectual growth in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was associated with other professional writers like Robert Greene after moving to London around 1588. Nashe's career spanned the late Elizabethan era and the early Jacobean age, which began in 1603.
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What types of writing did Thomas Nashe create?
Thomas Nashe was a prolific English writer who produced works in multiple genres. He is known for being a pamphleteer, a writer of topical and often controversial booklets, and for works of satire.
Nashe's writings include:
* Pamphlets The Anatomie of Absurditie, An Almond for a Parrat, Strange Newes, Have with You to Saffron-Walden
* Prefaces Authored the preface to Robert Greene’s Menaphon and to Thomas Newman’s unauthorized edition of Sir Philip Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella
* Satirical works Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Divell
* Picaresque novel The Unfortunate Traveller; or, The Life of Jacke Wilton
* Dramatic works Summers Last Will and Testament, The Isle of Dogs, Dido, Queen of Carthage (with Christopher Marlowe)
* Other works: Christs Teares over Jerusalem, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, The Terrors of the Night2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Why is Thomas Nashe important in English literature?
Thomas Nashe holds an important place in English literature as a pamphleteer, poet, dramatist, and the author of The Unfortunate Traveller; or, The Life of Jacke Wilton (1594), the first picaresque novel in English.
Nashe was one of the first English prose eccentrics and an extraordinary inventor of verbal hybrids. His prose satires, including Piers Penniless His Supplication to the Devil (1592), The Unfortunate Traveller (1594), and Nashe’s Lenten Stuff (1599), showcased his flexible, colloquial style, delighting in nonsense and disconcerting shifts of tone. His language is considered among the most profusely inventive of all Elizabethan writers.
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What are some of Thomas Nashe’s most famous works?
Thomas Nashe was a prolific English writer known for his satirical and inventive style. He was a pamphleteer, poet, dramatist, and author of prose fiction.
Some of Nashe’s most famous works include:
* The Unfortunate Traveller; or, The Life of Jacke Wilton (1594), considered the first picaresque novel in English.
* Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Divell (1592), a satire focusing on the seven deadly sins.
* Summers Last Will and Testament (1592), an entertainment showcasing his unique style.
* Nashes Lenten Stuffe (1599), which contains a description of the town of Yarmouth.2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did Thomas Nashe’s writing reflect the culture and issues of his time?
Thomas Nashe's writings, characterized by their bold and opinionated surveys of the contemporary literary scene, reflected the culture and issues of his time. Nashe's prose satires, such as Piers Penniless His Supplication to the Devil (1592), made full use of colloquial speech and delighted in nonsense, redundancy, and disconcerting shifts of tone.
His inventive language and flexible prose mirrored the flourishing theater scene in Elizabethan London and the growing importance of drama. Nashe's works often engaged with the controversies of his era, including religious and social issues, showcasing his agility as a writer and his ability to capture the spirit of the times.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Thomas Nashe (born 1567, Lowestoft, Suffolk, Eng.—died c. 1601, Yarmouth, Norfolk?) was a pamphleteer, poet, dramatist, and author of The Unfortunate Traveller; or, The Life of Jacke Wilton (1594), the first picaresque novel in English.
Nashe was educated at the University of Cambridge, and about 1588 he went to London, where he became associated with Robert Greene and other professional writers. In 1589 he wrote The Anatomie of Absurditie and the preface to Greene’s Menaphon. Both works are bold, opinionated surveys of the contemporary state of writing; occasionally obscure, they are euphuistic in style and range freely over a great variety of topics.
In 1589 and 1590 he evidently became a paid hack of the episcopacy in the Marprelate controversy and matched wits with the unidentified Puritan “Martin.” Almost all the Anglican replies to Martin have variously been assigned to Nashe, but only An Almond for a Parrat (1590) has been convincingly attributed to him. He wrote the preface to Thomas Newman’s unauthorized edition of Sir Philip Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella (1591). Though Nashe penned an extravagant dedication to Sidney’s sister, the countess of Pembroke, the book was withdrawn and reissued in the same year without Nashe’s foreword.
Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Divell (1592), a satire focused on the seven deadly sins, was Nashe’s first distinctive work. Using a free and extemporaneous prose style, full of colloquialisms, newly coined words, and fantastic idiosyncrasies, Nashe buttonholes the reader with a story in which a need for immediate entertainment seems to predominate over any narrative structure or controlling objective. Having become involved in his friend Greene’s feud with the writer Gabriel Harvey, Nashe satirized Harvey and his brothers in Pierce and then joined the combat in an exchange of pamphlets with Harvey, Strange Newes (1592) and Have with You to Saffron-Walden (1596). If Harvey is to be credited, Nashe was a hack for the printer John Danter in 1593. The controversy was terminated in 1599, when the archbishop of Canterbury ordered that “all Nasshes bookes and Doctor Harveyes bookes be taken wheresoever they maye be found and that none of theire bookes bee ever printed hereafter.”
Apparently Nashe wrote Strange Newes while he was living at the home of Sir George Carey, who momentarily relieved his oppressive poverty. In Christs Teares over Jerusalem (1593), Nashe warned his countrymen during one of the country’s worst outbreaks of bubonic plague that, unless they reformed, London would suffer the fate of Jerusalem. The Terrors of the Night (1594) is a discursive, sometimes bewildering, attack on demonology.
Pierce Penilesse excepted, Nashe’s most successful works were his entertainment Summers Last Will and Testament (1592, published 1600); his picaresque novel The Unfortunate Traveller; or, The Life of Jacke Wilton; Dido, Queen of Carthage (1594; with Christopher Marlowe); and Nashes Lenten Stuffe (1599). The Unfortunate Traveller is a brutal and realistic tale of adventure narrated with speed and economy. The book describes the travels through Germany and Italy of its rogue hero, Jacke Wilton, who lives by his wits and witnesses all sorts of historic events before he is converted to a better way of life. Lenten Stuffe, in praise of herrings, contains a charming description of the town of Yarmouth, Norfolk, a herring fishery. Nashe retreated to Yarmouth when he and Ben Jonson were prosecuted as a result of their satirical play The Isle of Dogs (1597).
Nashe was the first of the English prose eccentrics, an extraordinary inventor of verbal hybrids. The Works were edited by R.B. McKerrow, 5 vol. (1904–10; reprinted and reedited by F.P. Wilson, 1958).
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