British Identities and English Renaissance Literature

In this 2002 volume, scholars examine the role of literature in the construction of 'Britishness'.

David J. Baker (Edited by), Willy Maley (Edited by)

9780521189682, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 2 June 2011

314 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.46 kg

"This is an intellectually engaging [book]." Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History

Though British history and identity in the early modern period are intensively researched areas, the role of literature in the construction of 'Britishness' is under-examined. English history of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries often overlooks the contribution of Ireland, Scotland and Wales to the formation of the British state. Historians describe 'Britain' as a multiple kingdom, with a long history of conflict. In this 2002 volume, a team of leading Renaissance literary critics read a broad range of texts from the period, including plays of Shakespeare, in light of British history. Prominent historians respond to the issues raised by the volume. This collection opened up a different kind of literary history and has pressing relevance for discussions of 'Britishness'.

Introduction David Baker and Willy Maley
Part I: Opening the Field: 1. British history and 'the British history': the same old story? Philip Schwyzer
2. An uncertain union David Baker and Willy Maley
3. Revising criticism: Ireland and the British model Andrew Murphy
Part II. Contested Peripheries: 4. 'The lost British lamb': English Catholic exiles and the problem of Britain Christopher Highley
5. 'Making history': Holinshed's Irish chronicles, 1577 and 1587 Richard A. McCabe
Part III. British Shakespeare: 6. Henry IV: metatheatrical Britain Matthew Greenfield
7. Uncertain unions: Welsh leeks in Henry V Patricia Parker
8. Delving to the root: Cymbeline, Scotland, and the English race Mary Floyd-Wilson
Part IV. Union Questions: 9. Reinventing the matter of Britain: undermining the state in Jacobean masques Jayne Elisabeth Archer and Philippa Berry
10. Mapping British identities: Speed's Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine Christopher Ivic
Part V. Britain's Brave New World: 11. Bruited abroad: John White and Thomas Harriot's Colonial Representations of Ancient Britain Andrew Hadfield
12. The Commonwealth of the Word: New England, Old England, and the Praying Indians Linda Gregerson
Part VI. Restoring Britain: 13. Orrery's Ireland and the British problem, 1641–1679 John Kerrigan
14. Jacobite literature and national Identities Murray Pittock
Part VII: 15. Historians respond: literature and the new British and Irish histories Jane Ohlmeyer
16. Text, time, and the pursuit of 'British Identities' Derek Hirst.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD]