Female Mourning and Tragedy in Medieval and Renaissance English Drama: From the Raising of Lazarus to King Lear

ISBN-13: 9781138275638 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 264 str.

Katharine Goodland

Opis

Looking at the plays of Shakespeare, Kyd, and Webster this book presents a new perspective on early modern drama grounded upon three original interrelated points. The author explores how the motif of the mourning woman on the early modern stage embodies the cultural trauma of the Reformation in England; brings to light the extent to which the figures of early modern drama recall those of the recent medieval past; and addresses how these representations embody actual mourning practices that were, after the Reformation, increasingly viewed as disturbing.

Recenzje

’Her book is impressive not only in its breadth of coverage but in the tenacity with which its pursues its claims...Goodland's study is well worth reading...teaches us a great deal about the prevalence and significance of female mourning in pre- and post-Reformation drama.’ Renaissance Quarterly ’... compelling study... The strength of this book is its dedication to thinking across the medieval-early modern divide that structures English literary studies. Goodland's sustained interest in medieval drama is a welcome addition to current trend in thinking across the divide between pre- and early modern England... an informative and stimulating read for medievalists and Shakespeareans alike.’ Journal of British Studies

Spis treści

Contents: Introduction; Introduction to part 1; Resistant female grief in the medieval English Lazarus plays; Maternal mourning and tragedy in the nativity and passion plays; Residual lament in the medieval resurrection plays; Introduction to part 2; Constance and the claims of passion; Mourning and communal memory in Shakespeare's Richard III; Monstrous mourning women in Kyd, Webster, and Shakespeare; The gendered poetics of tragedy in Shakespeare's Hamlet; Inverting the pieta in Shakespeare's King Lear; Bibliography; Index.

O autorze

Katharine Goodland is Assistant Professor of English at the City University of New York's College of Staten Island, USA.