Synopses & Reviews
This is the first comprehensive account of English Renaissance literature in the context of the culture that shaped it: the courts of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, the tumult of Catholic and Protestant alliances during the Reformation, the age of printing and of New World discovery. The Companion covers developments in poetry, prose, religious writing, drama, satire and humanism in fourteen newly-commissioned essays, written by experts for student readers. A detailed chronology of major literary achievements concludes with a list of authors and their dates.
Review
"The purpose of the book is to provide students with an overview of the age and the forces at work in it. It succeeds so well over such a wide field that even specialists are likely to pick up something new. Highly recommended for all academic collections." Choice
Table of Contents
Illustrations; Chronology of texts and events, 1500-1600; Contemporary lives Charlotte Spivack; Introduction Arthur F. Kinney; 1. The sixteenth century Colin Burrow; 2. Tudor aesthetics Clark Hulse; 3. Authorship and the material conditions of writing Wendy Wall; 4. Poetry, patronage, and the court Catherine Bates; 5. Religious writing John N. King; 6. Dramatic experiments: Tudor drama, 1490-1567 Leah S. Marcus; 7. Dramatic achievements Suzanne Gossett; 8. Lyric forms Heather Dubrow; 9. Narrative, romance, and epic Donald Cheney; 10. The evolution of Tudor satire Anne Lake Prescott; 11. Chronicles of private life Lena Cowen Orlin; 12. Popular culture in print Garrett Sullivan and Linda Woodbridge; 13. Rewriting the world, rewriting the body Raymond Waddington; 14. Writing empire and nation Richard Helgerson; Index.