SOURCE: Hilliard, Stephen S. “Nashe's Orthodoxy.” In The Singularity of Thomas Nashe, pp. 25-61. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986.

In this excerpt, Hilliard demonstrates Nashe's basic conservatism in his early works, including his involvement in the Marprelate controversy. Hilliard concludes, however, that the arguments of the Marprelate debate, as reflected in An Almond for a Parrat, planted the seeds for Nashe to become less orthodox in his later career.

Approached in isolation from their historical context, Nashe's works seem more modern and “themeless” than they do when they are cross-referenced with the works that make up their “background.” That historical background, like the life of the author, is in part our construct, built by selecting texts that support our theses about the Elizabethan period. Moreover, as in a painting, the foreground defines the background: Nashe's literary career shapes an attitude toward the Elizabethan literary scene. It invites us...