William Empson: Essays on Renaissance Literature: Volume 2, The Drama

Hardback

Main Details

Title William Empson: Essays on Renaissance Literature: Volume 2, The Drama
Authors and Contributors      By (author) William Empson
Edited by John Haffenden
Physical Properties
Format:Hardback
Pages:304
Dimensions(mm): Height 236,Width 157
Category/GenreLiterary studies - c 1500 to c 1800
Literary studies - plays and playwrights
ISBN/Barcode 9780521440448
ClassificationsDewey:822.309
Audience
Professional & Vocational

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 5 May 1994
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

This collection of William Empson's essays on Elizabethan and Jacobean drama is the second volume of his writings on Renaissance literature. Edited with an introduction by the leading Empson scholar John Haffenden, the contents range from famous essays on The Spanish Tragedy, Volpone, The Alchemist and The Duchess of Malfi to a sprightly piece on Elizabethan spirits. In addition, there are previously unpublished essays which revisit critical controversies, and a magnificent, provocative study of A Midsummer Night's Dream which ventures a major new reading of the play. 'I am attracted by the notion of a hearty indifference to one's own and other people's feelings, when a fragment of the truth is in question,' Empson stated. The incomparable Empson here fights his own critical corner with unequalled zest, intelligence and insight.