Penniless? Thomas Nashe and precarity in historical perspective

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Thomas Nashe (1567-c.1601) is a challenging writer because of (1) the intense topicality and allusiveness of his works, which ground his writings in - and assume knowledge of - the material and socio-political contexts of his Elizabethan world; (2) his simultaneous tendency towards the grotesque, whereby he exaggerates and distorts the world he describes; and (3) his syntactical complexity.Using Nashe's Pierce Penniless (1592) as a focus text, the project will work with freelancers in the creative industries to produce nine pen-and-ink drawings, a zine, a devised performance, a video, and a series of six podcasts which will interpret Nashe's writings for non-specialist audiences and draw out his relevance to twenty-first-century experiences of precarious employment (here defined as unemployment, insecure employment, and employment in a job below one's skill-set). The project will also collect and curate oral testimonies about the employment experiences of young people and mature students in the twenty-first century.These visual and audio resources will be used to prompt discussions - amongst careers service professionals, educators, employers, young people and mature students facing a challenging employment environment, and their families and friends - about the experience of precarious employment, at both structured events (including a webinar hosted by the English Association) and beyond (via the subsequent life of these resources on-line). These resources will also highlight the dramatic techniques and potential of Nashe's 'non-dramatic' works, his innovative use of different forms and technologies (e.g. print), the importance of utilising networks, and Nashe's concern with the potential ephemerality of his art.In addition, via blogposts and an on-line round-table talk, the project will reflect on the process of collaborating with non-specialists to interpret and disseminate the works of a 'difficult' writer.