Book Reviews: Sin and Filth in Medieval Culture: The Devil in the Latrine, God's Only Daughter: Spenser's Una as the Invisible Church, Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity, the Elizabethan Top Ten: Defining Print Popularity in Early Modern England, Montaigne's English Journey, the Truth about William Shakespeare: Fact, Fiction and Modern Biographies, Reviewing Shakespeare: Journalism and Performance from the Eighteenth Century to the Present, a Year of Shakespeare. Re-Living the World Shakespeare Festival, Ira Aldridge: Performing Shakespeare in Europe 1852–1855

2014 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-148
Author(s):  
Peter J. Smith ◽  
Roger Stritmatter ◽  
H. Gaston Hall ◽  
Jean-Christophe Mayer ◽  
Nick Myers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
William Shakespeare ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
The World ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Devil ◽  
The Invisible

scholarly journals THE SOCIAL, PERSONAL, AND SPIRITUAL DYNAMICS OF GHOST STORIES IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-359
Author(s):  
LAURA SANGHA
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Ghost Stories ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
And Gender

AbstractIn early modern England, spectral figures were regular visitors to the world of the living and a vibrant variety of beliefs and expectations clustered around these questionable shapes. Yet whilst historians have established the importance of ghosts as cultural resources that were used to articulate a range of contemporary concerns about worldly life, we know less about the social and personal dynamics that underpinned the telling, recording, and circulation of ghost stories at the time. This article therefore focuses on a unique set of manuscript sources relating to apparitions in late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century England to uncover a different vantage point. Drawing on the life-writing and correspondence of the antiquarian who collected the narratives, it lays bare concerns about familial relations and gender that ghost stories were bound up with. Tracing the way that belief in ghosts functioned at an individual level also allows the recovery of the personal religious sensibilities and spiritual imperatives that sustained and nourished continuing belief in ghosts. This subjective angle demonstrates that ghost stories were closely intertwined with processes of grieving and remembering the dead, and they continued to be associated with theological understandings of the afterlife and the fate of the soul.

Shylock, the Devil and the Meaning of Deception in The Merchant of Venice

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
Jonathan Elukin
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The World ◽  
The Devil ◽  
Fallen World

Abstract The article explores Shakespeare’s secularized retelling of the Christian theological narrative of deceiving the Devil, with Antonio playing the role of Christ and Shylock as the Devil. The article argues that recasting the contest between Christ and the Devil in the world of Venice sets the stage for Shakespeare’s larger exploration of the pervasive nature of deceit in human affairs. Although it seems that Shakespeare’s characters are resigned to live in a fallen world where truth is obscured, Portia’s invocation of mercy may be Shakespeare’s attempt to offer some hope of an earthly salvation. The article argues that this portrait of a world filled with deception resonated with Shakespeare’s audience. Men and women in early modern England lived in a world where they often had to hide their religious identities and loyalties. This interpretation challenges more recent attempts to see the play as primarily concerned with race and tolerance.

Shylock, the Devil and the Meaning of Deception in The Merchant of Venice

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
Jonathan Elukin
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The World ◽  
The Devil ◽  
Fallen World

The article explores Shakespeare’s secularized retelling of the Christian theological narrative of deceiving the Devil, with Antonio playing the role of Christ and Shylock as the Devil. The article argues that recasting the contest between Christ and the Devil in the world of Venice sets the stage for Shakespeare’s larger exploration of the pervasive nature of deceit in human affairs. Although it seems that Shakespeare’s characters are resigned to live in a fallen world where truth is obscured, Portia’s invocation of mercy may be Shakespeare’s attempt to offer some hope of an earthly salvation. The article argues that this portrait of a world filled with deception resonated with Shakespeare’s audience. Men and women in early modern England lived in a world where they often had to hide their religious identities and loyalties. This interpretation challenges more recent attempts to see the play as primarily concerned with race and tolerance.

Book Reviews

2010 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-178
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
University Of California ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Economic Perspective ◽  
The World ◽  
Early Eighteenth Century ◽  
George Mason University ◽  
The Invisible

Gregory Clark of University of California, Davis reviews “The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates” by Peter T. Leeson,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Explores the world of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century pirates from an economic perspective, focusing on how famous pirate customs resulted from pirates responding rationally to prevailing economic conditions in the pursuit of profits. Discusses the invisible hook; the economics of pirate democracy; the economics of the pirate code; the economics of the Jolly Roger; the economics of pirate torture; the economics of pirate conscription; the economics of pirate tolerance; and the secrets of pirate management. Leeson is BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism in the Department of Economics at George Mason University. Index.”

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Maria Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Literary History ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Related Material ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
Early English

Mythographies were books that collected, explained, and interpreted myth-related material. Extremely popular during the Renaissance, these works appealed to a wide range of readers. While the European mythographies of the sixteenth century have been utilized by scholars, the short, early English mythographies, written from 1577 to 1647, have puzzled critics. The first generation of English mythographers did not, as has been suggested, try to compete with their Italian predecessors. Instead, they made mythographies into rhetorical instruments designed to intervene in topical debates outside the world of classical learning. Because English mythographers brought mythology to bear on a variety of contemporary issues, they unfold a lively and historically well-defined picture of the roles myth was made to play in early modern England. Exploring these mythographies can contribute to previous insights into myth in the Renaissance offered by studies of iconography, literary history, allegory, and myth theory.

Doubtful Readers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin A. McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
William Shakespeare ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
English Literature ◽  
John Donne ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Aemilia Lanyer ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Early Modern Poetry ◽  
Literary Histories ◽  
Over Time

Doubtful Readers: Print, Poetry, and the Reading Public in Early Modern England focuses on early modern publishers’ efforts to identify and accommodate new readers of verse that had previously been restricted to particular social networks in manuscript. Focusing on the period between the maturing of the market for printed English literature in the 1590s and the emergence of the professional poet following the Restoration, this study shows that poetry was shaped by—and itself shaped—strong print publication traditions. By reading printed editions of poems by William Shakespeare, Aemilia Lanyer, John Donne, and others, this book shows how publishers negotiated genre, gender, social access, reputation, literary knowledge, and the value of English literature itself. It uses literary, historical, bibliographical, and quantitative evidence to show how publishers’ strategies changed over time. Ultimately, Doubtful Readers argues that although—or perhaps because—publishers’ interpretive and editorial efforts are often elided in studies of early modern poetry, their interventions have had an enduring impact on our canons, texts, and literary histories.

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