Hunger, Appetite and the Politics of the Renaissance Stage

Matthew Williamson's book argues that the representation of hunger and appetite was central to political debate in early modern drama.

Matt Williamson (Author)

9781108927659, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 June 2023

243 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm, 0.359 kg

Hunger and appetite permeate Renaissance theatre, with servants, soldiers, courtiers and misers all defined with striking regularity through their relation to food. Demonstrating the profound ongoing relevance of Marxist literary theory, Hunger, Appetite and the Politics of the Renaissance Stage highlights the decisive role of these drives in the complex politics of early modern drama. Plenty and excess were thematically inseparable from scarcity and want for contemporary audiences, such that hunger and appetite together acquired a unique significance as both subject and medium of political debate. Focusing critical attention on the relationship between cultural texts and the material base of society, Matthew Williamson reveals the close connections between how these drives were represented and the underlying socioeconomic changes of the period. At the same time, he shows how hunger and appetite provided the theatres with a means of conceptualising these changes and interrogating the forces that motivated them.

Introduction
1. Thinking through hunger and appetite in Renaissance England
2. Service
3. The food gift
4. Sexual desire
5. Female food refusal
6. Imperial appetites
7. Revolt.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD], Literature: history & criticism [DS], Shakespeare plays [DDS], Literature & literary studies [D]