Motives of Woe: Shakespeare and Female Complaint, a Critical Anthology

ISBN-13: 9780198117704 / Angielski / Twarda / 1991 / 328 str.

John Kerrigan

Opis

This anthology recovers a tradition of writing to which some of the greatest medieval and Renaissance poets--women as well as men--contributed. Centering on Shakespeare's neglected A Lovers Complaint, it includes "female"-voiced lyrics, chronicle poems and fictional letters by a range of authors from Chaucer to Aphra Behn and Henry Carey. In his scholarly introduction, Kerrigan outlines the development of 'female complaint', indicates how cultural pressure shaped it, and argues that the time is ripe for a reevaluation of this literary kind. Shedding new light on Shakespeare and the conventions of historical, pastoral and epistolary discourse, Motives of Woe will be of interest to scholars of medieval and early modern studies, as well as to general readers.

Recenzje

'Besides his scrupulous historical perspective, Kerrigan draws on a sophisticated apparatus of modern critical theory ... 'Motives of Woe' is not only a fine, distinguished and intellectually vigorous piece of work, but it is also an innovative study which reaches far beyond the humble, pedestrian task of editing little known texts around a faily neglected theme. In fact this rather low-key type of literary criticism should be praised as it makes its point more surely than many 'high astounding terms' of some critical theorists, all the more so as the points and arguments presented in the both scholarly and brilliant introduction are later ex-emplified in the judicious and highly interesting anthology of texts illustrating the subgenre of 'Female Woe', cleverly tuning our ears to the sad but beautiful and often highly elaborate acoustics of women's complaint throughout the centuries.' Francois Laroque Universite de la Sorbonne Nouvell, Paris III Archiv