Renaissance Literature (Edinburgh Critical Guides To Literat

Description:
This concise introduction to the literature of an exciting and influential period opens with an overview of the historical and cultural context in which English Renaissance literature was produced, and a discussion of its contemporary and subsequent critical reception. The following chapters survey the major Renaissance genres of drama, poetry and prose. Each chapter provides illustrative case studies of canonical and non-canonical key texts by authors such as William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Edmund Spenser, John Milton, Sir Philip Sidney, John Donne, Aemilia Lanyer, Sir Francis Bacon, Thomas Nashe, and Lady Mary Wroth. A guide to further reading accompanies each chapter, complemented by a section of student resources at the end of the book. The final chapter summarises significant developments in English Renaissance literary culture, and discusses the future direction of Renaissance literary scholarship.Key Features *Detailed readings of Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Milton's 'Lycidas', Sidney's Astrophil and Stella, Shakespeare's Sonnets, Venus and Adonis and Hamlet, Marlowe's Tamburlaine, Jonson's The Alchemist, Lanyer's 'The Description of Cookham', Bacon's Essays, Donne's sermons, Nashe's The Unfortunate Traveller and Wroth's The Countess of Montgomery's Urania *A broad overview of Renaissance literature and the context in which it was produced *An accessible introduction to Renaissance literary criticism, including past and present debates about the Renaissance 'canon' *A variety of study aids, including end-of-chapter summaries of key points, a glossary of literary and historical terms, a chronology, advice on essay writing, sample essay questions and plans, and a guide to further reading and electronic research resources.

Review:
Siobhan Keenan is to be commended for having achieved precisely the right balance between comprehensiveness, comprehension, and compression. This is a really useful guide to a varied and vibrant period, written in a clear style that never sacrifices complexity in its quest for clarity. -- Willy Maley Journal of the Northern Renaissance Siobhan Keenan is to be commended for having achieved precisely the right balance between comprehensiveness, comprehension, and compression. This is a really useful guide to a varied and vibrant period, written in a clear style that never sacrifices complexity in its quest for clarity.

Table of Contents:
Series Preface; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; About this Book; Chronology' Introduction; The Historical Context; The Critical Context; Chapter 1 Drama; The Professional Stage; Private and Occasional Drama; Attitudes to Drama; Comedy; Tragedy History; Romance & Tragicomedy; Court Masques; Chapter 2 Poetry; Pastoral Verse; The Epic; The Epyllion; The Sonnet Sequence; The Lyric; The Country-House Poem; Chapter 3 Prose; Non-Fiction; Fiction; The Essay; Sermons and Devotions; Romances; Conclusion; Student Resources; Essay Writing Advice; Sample Essay Questions and Plans; Glossary Guide to Further Reading; Index

Author Biography:
Siobhan Keenan is a Senior Lecturer in English at De Montfort University, Leicester. She has published a number of essays on Renaissance theatre, and is the author of Travelling Players in Shakespeare's England (Palgrave, 2002), which was short-listed for the Theatre Society Book Prize 2002. She is currently editing an anonymous Caroline play for the Malone Society; and has research interests in Shakespeare, Renaissance literature, and early modern women's writing.