Edmund Spenser: A Life

Edmund Spenser: A Life - Paperback

$42.82
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Edmund Spenser: A Life
  • Edmund Spenser: A Life
Edmund Spenser: A Life - Paperback

Edmund Spenser: A Life - Paperback

by Andrew Hadfield
$42.82
$42.82

Book Overview

by Andrew Hadfield (Author)

Edmund Spenser's innovative poetic works have a central place in the canon of English literature. Yet he is remembered as a morally flawed, self-interested sycophant; complicit in England's ruthless colonisation of Ireland; in Karl Marx's words, 'Elizabeth's arse-kissing poet'-- a man on the
make who aspired to be at court and who was prepared to exploit the Irish to get what he wanted.

In his vibrant and vivid book, the first biography of the poet for 60 years, Andrew Hadfield finds a more complex and subtle Spenser. How did a man who seemed destined to become a priest or a don become embroiled in politics? If he was intent on social climbing, why was he so astonishingly rude to
the good and the great Lord Burghley, the earl of Leicester, Sir Walter Ralegh, Elizabeth I and James VI? Why was he more at home with 'the middling sort' -- writers, publishers and printers, bureaucrats, soldiers, academics, secretaries, and clergymen -- than with the mighty and the powerful? How
did the appalling slaughter he witnessed in Ireland impact on his imaginative powers? How did his marriage and family life shape his work?

Spenser's brilliant writing has always challenged our preconceptions. So too, Hadfield shows, does the contradictory relationship between his between life and his art.

Author Biography

Andrew Hadfield is Professor of English at the University of Sussex and Visiting Professor at the University of Grenada. He is author of a number of works on early modern literature.

Number of Pages: 648
Dimensions: 1.5 x 9.1 x 6 IN
Illustrated: Yes
Publication Date: December 10, 2014
ISBN9780198703006
Author Andrew Hadfield
PublisherOxford University Press (UK)
GenreBiography and Literature
FormatPaperback
PublishedDecember 2014
LanguageENG- English
Pages648
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Biography & Autobiography Literary Criticism Nonfiction Poetry

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About Andrew Hadfield

Matthew Dimmock, Professor of Early Modern Studies, University of Sussex, Andrew Hadfield, Professor of English, University of Sussex

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