Benjamin Victor Beier

The essay examines More’s 1535 letter to Antonio Bonvisi. It compares the epistle, as a whole and in its salutation and valediction, with the humanist epistolary conventions expressed by Erasmus and discovers that More often, but not always, ignores Erasmian precepts. The essay argues that More’s rhetorical choices deepen our understanding of his enactment of friendship in the letter and of More’s self-understanding near the end of his life. Cette étude examine la lettre de More de 1535 à Antonio Bonvisi. On y compare l’épître, dans son ensemble, ainsi que les formules de salutation et d’adieu, avec les conventions épistolaires humanistes pratiquées par Erasme pour découvrir que More ignore souvent, mais pas toujours, les préceptes érasmiens. L’étude démontre que les choix rhétoriques de More approfondissent notre compréhension de la mise en œuvre de son amitié dans cette lettre et de la compréhension de lui-même qu’avait trouvée More vers la fin de sa vie.

This essay reconsiders More's letter to Brixius. It uncovers early modern understandings of self-fashioning/ethos and epistolary conventions of the period, and with these contexts, it rereads More's self-presentation or ethos-development in the letter. The essay argues that More's ethos in the letter highlights an authentic facet of himself and, thereby, gives us a glimpse of the historical More who, in the Brixius moment, is angry, but not excessively or habitually, as has sometimes been claimed.