The Cambridge Companion to Thomas More

摘要

We often associate Thomas More with Utopias (because of his famous satire published in 1516), the narrative of Richard III as a tyrant (something Shakespeare had a hand in as well), and resisting Henry VIII by supporting Catholicism when Henry wanted a divorce. Robert Bolt's 1965 play A Man for All Seasons with Schofield in the title role sets More up as a model of heroic and self-sacrificial resistance to authority. Some of this is accurate: More (born 1478, beheaded for treason in 1535 after two years in the Tower of London) did write Utopia (and gave the name to innumerable Utopias and dystopias since then, like Erewhon and News from Nowhere and novels by Ursula Le Guin and many more), did write a biography of Richard III (called The History of Richard the Third, which appeared in both Latin and English), and was famously incarcerated and beheaded (but not before writing what are now called the "Tower Works", which are fascinating in their own right). There is a lot to this man, and this companion reminds us that there is even more than we first thought (unless you have immersed yourself in the field, of course).