John Bunyan

Roger Pooley (University of Keele)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.04: English Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century, 1625-1688.
Vol. editors: Jennifer Brady (Rhodes College), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne), Claire Preston (Queen Mary, University of London), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University)

Dates

Born Nov 1628
Died 31 Aug 1688
Activity 1656-1688

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Pamphleteer
Religious writer

Other

Autobiographer
Children's/Young Adult writer
Novelist
Poet
Preacher
Rhetorician/ Orator

Resources

Bunyan's Works

Save to Bookshelf

A hundred years ago Bunyan's position among the great writers was incontestable. His major work,

The Pilgrim's Progress

, was translated, illustrated, adapted, parodied (see for example, Hawthorne's

The Celestial Railroad

) and distributed widely. The unwavering Christian basis of his work meant that he was one of the few imaginative authors read without suspicion by those who didn't buy the Arnoldian idea that art was taking over the role of religion in people's lives. Some of his key motifs – the Slough of Despond, or Vanity Fair, for example – were referred to as confidently as quotations from

Hamlet

. Nowadays he is less central to general culture, although critics and historians alike still find him of compelling interest. Those who do not share his belief still respond to the…

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1477 words

Citation: Pooley, Roger. "John Bunyan". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 July 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=640, accessed 21 November 2024.]