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drnaomibaker.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer in English Lit, U of Manchester| Assoc. Editor Literature & Theology 📚Voices of Thunder: Radical Religious Women of the Seventeenth Century (Reaktion Books, 2025) https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/naomi.baker
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Came across an essay I wrote as an undergrad in the 90s - yes, we hand wrote them! - about Hester Biddle, one of the women in my forthcoming book. Very grateful to my wonderful tutor, Nigel Smith, for introducing me to these texts back when hardly anyone was reading them #earlymodern #womenwriters

submitted 9 hours ago • 0 comments

“When tragedy established itself in England it did so in terms of plots and spectacle that had much more to do with medieval apocalypse than with … Aristotle” - Frank Kermode. Could not agree more! Aristotle is far less relevant to English Renaissance tragedy than is theology …

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

Believe it or not, Henry VIII’s wives were not the only women he beheaded - he also executed Elizabeth Barton (c. 1506-34), whose head was impaled on a spike on London Bridge. Why? 1/2

submitted 4 days ago • 3 comments

Sundays are for elegant forms of chilling

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

Very grisly question, but does anyone know of any women whose heads were impaled on sticks on London Bridge? I’ve read that the 16th century prophet Elizabeth Barton was the only one, and am wondering if this is true #earlymodern #skystorians #LondonBridge

submitted 6 days ago • 3 comments

Am teaching #MidsummerNightsDream alongside #AllsWellThatEndsWell this week, after #MeasureforMeasure last week - wow, it’s becoming very clear to me that Shakespeare was really not a fan of marriage in any shape or form - all of the marriages in these plays are either coercive or just plain weird

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

Mary Cary argued in 1653 that any truly Christian government would “lay to heart the condition of the poor … before any rich man’s case whatsoever be taken into consideration” 1/2

submitted 10 days ago • 2 comments

“Beat at the windows of the brightest heavens,/Soliciting for justice and revenge;/ But … countermured with walls of diamond,/ I find the place impregnable, and they/Resist my woes” - am teaching the brilliant “The Spanish Tragedy”, one of the most class-conscious and radical of Renaissance plays

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

This beauty follows me round the house like a puppy and she just makes life lovelier #caturday

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

A Parliament of Women (1656) suggests that a female parliament would involve women pursuing “pomp, pride, and wantonness”, and would be very threatening to men. Because obviously it is female political representation and empowerment that we all need to be alarmed about #earlymodern

submitted 14 days ago • 2 comments

“I cannot be/ Mine own, nor any thing to any, if/ I be not thine. To this I am most constant,/Though destiny say no.” ~ Florizel, The Winter’s Tale 💘 #shakespeare #earlymodern

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

“I have been drinking hard all night and … I will not consent to die this day, that’s certain.” Barnardine in Measure for Measure - surely Shakespeare’s most radical character, by a mile #shakespeare #earlymodern

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

Fascinating seminar on the Book of Revelation in which we discussed living “deliciously” (Rev 18:7 KJV) and the Geneva Bible notes in which to be “gorgeous” is highly questionable - a confronting session in which students could see just how radically the associations of terms can change over time

submitted 16 days ago • 2 comments

Am on my way to give an undergraduate lecture on the Book of Revelation - and am feeling the weight of D H Lawrence’s pronouncement that “the final proof of insanity is to have a theory about the Apocalypse”

submitted 17 days ago • 2 comments

Starting up a very basic University of Manchester Humanities starter pack - please share and let me know if you want to be added go.bsky.app/FqiNqDp

submitted 80 days ago • 2 comments

A special treat for you today! Guest blogger Dr Chloë Houston writes on Persian literary culture in early modern European travel writing: memorients.com/articles/not...

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

The Dr Williams Library is relocating to the John Rylands Library in Manchester! This is absolutely fabulous news! The Rylands already has incredible archival riches, but this is going to consolidate it as a major centre of nonconformist writing 🌟 dwl.ac.uk

submitted 18 days ago • 5 comments

Was being a sow-gelder (“one who castrates swine”) really a specific trade and a full-time job?? (Even if done, to Taylor’s disgust, alongside preaching) #earlymodern #skystorians #EarlyModern

submitted 18 days ago • 6 comments

Writing a lecture on Measure for Measure. What a hot mess of a play (but all the more fascinating for it). I have the feeling there is a lot more work left to be done on this one #shakespeare #earlymodern

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

Diva dreaming #caturday

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string” #emerson

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

“It is for want of self-culture that the superstition of travelling …retains its fascination” #emerson

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

go.bsky.app/PGTCboR I’ve made a starter pack for people interested in literature and theology/religion - please share and let me know if you would like to be added!

submitted 104 days ago • 14 comments

Reposting this for anyone interested in the study of literature and religion/theology #earlymodern #literature #theology #religion

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments