Edmund Spenser and the Romance of Space - Paperback

by Tamsin Badcoe (Author)

Edmund Spenser and the romance of space seeks to gauge the roles that aesthetic subjectivity and the imagination play in early modern spatial and textual practices.

Back Jacket

This book advances the exploration of literary space into new areas, firstly by taking advantage of recent interdisciplinary interests in the spatial qualities of early modern thought and culture, and secondly by reading literature concerning the art of cosmography and navigation alongside imaginative literature with the purpose of identifying shared modes and preoccupations.

The book looks to the work of cultural and historical geographers in order to gauge the roles that aesthetic subjectivity and the imagination play in the development of geographical knowledge: contexts ultimately employed by the study to achieve a better understanding of the place of Ireland in Spenser's writing. The study also engages with recent ecocritical approaches to literary environments, such as coastlines, wetlands and islands, in order to frame fresh readings of Spenser's handling of mixed genres. In particular, the book places Spenser's writing alongside the work of other spatial 'makers' including William Cuningham, John Dee and Walter Ralegh, who not only provide a context for Spenser's spatial strategies but are also discussed in their own right.

The book will be of use to both undergraduate and postgraduate readers of Spenser, as well as to scholars with interests in early modern literatures and environments, and to researchers with interests in genre, form, epistemology and the history of cosmography.

Author Biography

Tamsin Badcoe is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Bristol