Description: This new series offers readers thorough and lively introductions to literary periods, movements, authors, and genres from the Anglo-Saxon tradition to Postmodernity. Each accessible, engaging volume in the series is written by a leading specialist in the field. Chapters are devoted to the coverage of cultural context, the provision of brief but detailed biographical essays, critical coverage of key works, and surveys of themes and topics. Bibliographies suggesting further reading are also included. Readers new to a literary period or genre will discover all they need to know in these volumes, which are as stimulating to read as they are convenient to use.

This lively and stimulating book guides readers through the historical contexts, key figures, texts, themes, and issues in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century English literature.

The English Renaissance, 1500-1620 illustrates the historical and cultural contexts of Renaissance England, highlighting the background voices and events which influenced literary production. It spans the Reformation, the British problem, perceptions of other cultures, and the voyages to the Americas.

A series of short biographical essays on the key writers of the period explains their significance, and explores a variety of perspectives with which to approach them. It provides in-depth analyses of a number of well-studied texts, indicating why each is important and how it might usefully be read. Texts featured include Astrophil and Stella, Othello, Utopia, Dr. Faustus, The Tragedy of Miriam, The Unfortunate Traveller, and the Faerie Queene.

This comprehensive volume charts the intricacies of English Renaissance literature, taking in a variety ofthemes, including women, gender and the question of homosexuality; the stage; printing and censorship; humanism and education; and rhetoric. It draws attention to current debates in Renaissance criticism such as New Historicism and cultural materialism: thus the book provides readers with an unparalleled foundation for further study.

Fully cross-referenced, with a useful chronology, glossary and suggestions for further reading, this much-needed guide conveys the excitement of reading Renaissance literature.

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