This book traces the progress of Renaissance romance from a genre addressed to women as readers to a genre written by women. Exploring this crucial transitional period, Helen Hackett examines the work of a diverse range of writers from Lyly, Rich and Greene to Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare. Her book culminates in an analysis of Lady Mary Wroth's Urania (1621), the first romance written by a woman, and considers the developing representation of female heroism and selfhood, especially the adaptation of saintly roles to secular and even erotic purposes.
This book traces the progress of Renaissance romance from a genre addressed to women as readers to a genre written by women. Exploring this crucial tr...
Shakespeare is a towering presence in English and indeed global culture. Most readers in the English-speaking world, and many beyond, know his name and have at least a passing familiarity with his work. Yet considered alongside his contemporaries he was not an isolated phenomenon, but the product of a period of astonishing creative fertility. This was an age when new media - popular drama, and print - were seized upon avidly and inventively by a generation of exceptionally talented writers. In her sparkling new book, Helen Hackett explores the historical contexts of English Renaissance...
Shakespeare is a towering presence in English and indeed global culture. Most readers in the English-speaking world, and many beyond, know his name...