Nashe, Thomas (1567-1601), was an author who wrote some of the first works of prose fiction in English literature. He is remembered chiefly for The Unfortunate Traveller; or, The Life of Jack Wilton (1594), a forerunner of the English novel. This energetic narrative combines colorful fictional characters with references to actual people and events. Pierce Penniless, His Supplication to the Devil (1592) is a satire on Elizabethan society.
Nashe was born in Lowestoft, England. He studied at Cambridge University and was one of the group of playwrights known as the “University Wits.” Nashe’s racy style and gift for rough language lent themselves to the pamphlet warfare that was widespread in Elizabethan literary life. In one famous series of pamphlets, Nashe attacked scholar Gabriel Harvey. Nashe also wrote several pamphlets in 1589 and 1590 that defended the bishops of the Church of England against attacks by the Puritans. This heated exchange of pamphlets became known as the Martin Marprelate controversy.
See also Adieu, Farewell Earth’s Bliss.
