The Oxford History of Classical Reception in English Literature: Volume 2: 1558-1660(Oxford History of Classical Reception in English Literature)

The Oxford History of Classical Reception (OHCREL) is designed to offer a comprehensive investigation of the numerous and diverse ways in which literary texts of the classical world have stimulated responses and refashioning by English writers. Covering the full range of English literature from the early Middle Ages to the present day, OHCREL both synthesizes existing scholarship and presents cutting-edge new research, employing an international team of expert contributors for each of the five volumes. OHCREL endeavours to interrogate, rather than inertly reiterate, conventional assumptions about literary 'periods', the processes of canon-formation, and the relations between literary and non-literary discourse. It conceives of 'reception' as a complex process of dialogic exchange and, rather than offering large cultural generalizations, it engages in close critical analysis of literary texts. It explores in detail the ways in which English writers' engagement with classical literature casts as much light on the classical originals as it does on the English writers' own cultural context. This second volume, and third to appear in the series, covers the years 1558-1660, and explores the reception of the ancient genres and authors in English Renaissance literature, engaging with the major, and many of the minor, writers of the period, including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser, and Jonson. Separate chapters examine the Renaissance institutions and contexts which shape the reception of antiquity, and an annotated bibliography provides substantial material for further reading.

Table of Contents:
List of Contributors Preface 1: Patrick Cheney and Philip Hardie: Introduction Part I: Institutions and Contexts 2: Peter Mack: The Classics in Humanism, Education, and Scholarship 3: Stuart Gillespie: The Availability of the Classics: Readers, Writers, Translation, Performance 4: Peter Mack: Classical Rhetoric in English 5: Gavin Alexander: The Classics in Literary Criticism 6: Mark Vessey: Classics and Christianity 7: Jane Stevenson: Women Writers and the Classics 8: Cultural Contexts Curtis Perry: a) Politics and Nationalism Cora Fox: b) Sexuality and Desire Patrick Cheney: c) Literary Careers Philip Hardie: d) Fame and Immortality Part II: Genres 9: Helen Cooper: Pastoral and Georgic 10: Philip Hardie: Epic Poetry 11: Lynn Enterline: Elizabethan Minor Epic 12: William Fitzgerald: The Epistolary Tradition 13: Helen Moore: Prose Romance 14: Roland Greene: Elegy, Hymn, Epithalamium, Ode: Some Renaissance Reinterpretations 15: Susanna Braund: Complaint, Epigram, and Satire 16: Gordone Braden: Tragedy 17: Bruce Smith: Comedy 18: Tanya Pollard: Tragicomedy 19: Bart Vanes: Historiography and Biography 20: Reid Barbour and Claire Preston: Discursive and Speculative Writing Part III: Authors 21: Jessica Wolfe: Homer 22: Elizabeth Jane Bellamy: Plato 23: Maggie Kilgour: Virgil and Ovid 24: Victoria Moul (with a contribution by Charles Martindale): Horace 25: Richard McCabe: Spenser 26: Charles Martindale: Marlowe 27: Colin Burrow: Shakespeare 28: Sean Keilen: Jonson 29: Thomas Luxon: Early Milton Craig Kallendorf: Classical Reception in English Literature, 1558-1660: An Annotated Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Patrick Cheney is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Pennsylvania State University. He has been a Visiting Research Fellow at Merton College, University of Oxford, and a recipient of the Faculty Scholar Medal at Pennsylvania State University for research in the humanities. He is General Editor of the Oxford History of Poetry in English, and a Visiting Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. His publications have focused on the reception of classical ideas of authorship. Philip Hardie is a Senior Research Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Honorary Professor of Latin at the University of Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and was Corpus Christi Professor of the Latin Language and Literature at the University of Oxford (2002-6). He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Thessaloniki, and was the recipient of the Premio Internazionale Virgilio (Mantova) in 2012. He has published extensively both on ancient Latin literature and on its reception.

Review :
This book bursts with a wealth of case studies and microhistories that will no doubt assist witchcraft scholars ... Overall, this is a valuable and impressive contribution to current scholarship. In sum, the endeavor amounts to a detailed, up-to-date, and authoritative compendium of learning and insight on a topic that defines the very soul of Renaissance literature.