Representations of Elizabeth I in Early Modern Culture

This volume explores Elizabeth I's influence on English and European culture through her own writing (including manuscripts and literary and non-literary productions) in her time and in the decades following her death, as well as through the representation of contemporary and later writers. Elizabeth I united in herself a variety of roles: woman and queen, 'mother' of her people and stern ruler, and writer and recipient of some of the most important writings of the age. The very complexity of her personality requires a multidisciplinary approach. With contributions from codicologists, historians and literary critics, this volume offers a varied reading of the queen and of her cultural inheritance. The book is thus a precious tool for anyone approaching Elizabeth as politician, poet or literary persona.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: 'A monarch in writing'; A.Petrina Prologue: 'I am Richard the Second'; S.Orgel PART I: THE WORD OF A PRINCE: ELIZABETH WRITING The Queen's two hands; J.Gibson Mary Stuart's Execution and Queen Elizabeth's Divided Self; P.Baseotto 'Ma plume vous pourra exprimer': Elizabeth's French Correspondance; G.Coatalen 'Most peereles Poetresse': The Manuscript Circulation of Elizabeth's Poems; C.Bajetta PART II: WE PRINCES ARE SET ON STAGES: MASQUES AND CEREMONIES OF ROYAL SELF-DISPLAY The Monarch as Represented in the Ceremony of Coronation; J.Dillon Elizabeth's Presence in the Jacobean Masque; E.Botonaki Lady of the Lake or Queen of the Ocean? The Representation of Female Power in Prince Henry's Barriers and Tethys' Festival; S.Trevisan PART III: IN MIRRORS MORE THAN ONE: ELIZABETH AND REPRESENTATIONS OF FEMALE SOVEREIGNTY Performing the Apocalypse: Sibylline Prophecy and Elizabeth I; J.L.Malay Under Italian eyes: Petruccio Ubaldini's Verbal Portraits of Queen Elizabeth; G.Iamartino Never a Merry World: The Rhetoric of Nostalgia in Elizabethan England; K.Johanson No Country for Old Women?; Y.Oram 'A queen in jest': Queenship and Historical Subversion in Shakespeare's 3 Henry VI and Richard III; K.Mudan Mirrors for Female Rulers: Elizabeth I and the Duchess of Malfi; L.Tosi Index

About the Author :
ALESSANDRA PETRINA Associate Professor of English Literature at the Universita di Padova, Italy. Her published works include Cultural Politics in Fifteenth-century England: The Case of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (2004), and Machiavelli in the British Isles: Two Early Modern Translations of the Prince (2009). LAURA TOSI Associate Professor of English Literature at the University Ca' Foscari in Venice, Italy. She has published monograph studies on Ben Jonson and John Webster, and her latest book is on the literary fairy tale in England.

Review :
'This new essay collection makes a serious and significant contribution to studies of Elizabeth I. A diversity of approaches sheds new light on this iconic queen, investigating the materiality of her own writings as well as her influence on stagings of female power. We are invited to view her from perspectives of prophecy and nostalgia, and to look afresh at this endlessly fascinating monarch.' - Helen Hackett, University College London, UK 'This considered and cohesive sequence of essays on the cultural presence of Elizabeth I is both elegant and timely. The collection is given a distinguished focus in the Prologue contributed by the celebrated expert on Elizabethan culture and drama, Stephen Orgel, with its poised consideration of the relation between the arts and the 'monarch's will.' Thereafter, the book's three sections explore the image and presence of the queen: in her own words, in the events and writings which she promoted and patronised, and in subsequent recollection and reinterpretation. The focus throughout is international with significant work on Elizabeth's use of French and on Elizabeth's appearance in the eyes of an Italian contemporary. Her place in time is considered in many aspects: as a figure embodying past virtues, as the presiding goddess of a glorious present, and as the prophetess of a new order to come. One of the distinguishing features of this collection is the awareness which accompanies all these investigations of the elements of improvisation and insecurity which formed the counterpoint to the public triumphs of Elizabeth. There are particularly rich reflections on dramatic echoes of Elizabeth's governance in the plays of Webster and Shakespeare. The continental focus of the volume is particularly welcome, offering the reader new discoveries on the map of the queen's world. This focus also points silently to a palpable absence of Elizabethan culture: the ambiguous withdrawal of her realm from the international respublica litterarum, from the possibility of comparison. This collection is as notable for the careful selection of subjects and editorial shaping of a coherent whole as it is for the skill and knowledge of the individual contributors. The Introduction draws the whole volume together in its finely-nuanced consideration of Elizabeth as a subject placed in time.' - Peter Davidson, Professor of Renaissance Studies, University of Aberdeen, UK