The Oxford Handbook of Holinshed's Chronicles
Ian W Archer editor Felicity Heal editor Paulina Kewes editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:27th Dec '12
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1577, 1587), issued under the name of Raphael Holinshed, was the crowning achievement of Tudor historiography, and became the principal source for the historical writings of Spenser, Daniel and, above all, Shakespeare. While scholars have long been drawn to Holinshed for its qualities as a source, they typically dismissed it as a baggy collection of materials, lacking coherent form and analytical insight. This condescending verdict has only recently given way to an appreciation of the literary and historical qualities of these chronicles. The Handbook is a major interdisciplinary undertaking which gives the lie to Holinshed's detractors, and provides original interpretations of a book that has lacked sustained academic scrutiny. Bringing together leading specialists in a variety of fields - literature, history, religion, classics, bibliography, and the history of the book - the Handbook demonstrates that the Chronicles powerfully reflect the nature of Tudor thinking about the past, about politics and society, and about the literary and rhetorical means by which readers might be persuaded of the truth of narrative. The volume shows how distinctive it was for one book to chronicle the history of three nations of the British archipelago. The various sections of the Handbook analyse the making of the two editions of the Chronicles; the relationship of the work to medieval and early modern historiography; its formal properties, genres and audience; attitudes to politics, religion, and society; literary appropriations; and the parallel descriptions and histories of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The result is a seminal study that shows unequivocally the vitality and complexity of the chronicle form in the late sixteenth century.
The editors deserve to be congratulated on an elegant and provocative collection which in its multi-vocality suggests numerous directions for future research. * Jason Scott-Warren, Notes and Queries *
The Handbook is an extremely valuable aid to the fruitful exploration of the varieties of Elizabethan thought and experience. * C. S. L. Davies, English Historical Review *
this collection is of the first importance for understanding Elizabethan history and historiography in a very wide range of senses, and as Shakespeare and his collaborators relied heavily on the Chronicles for texts beyond the history plays, readers should take the time to make full use of this excellent essay collection. * Year's Work in English Studies *
This book is a major boon for Shakespeare specialists, who should have it in their institutional library, if not on their personal bookshelf. * John D. Cox, Shakespeare Quarterly *
The Oxford Handbook of Holinshedâs Chronicles is a fascinating collection of essays. ... It will be a vital reference work for scholars for years to come and in particular for those writing on Elizabethan literature and drama. * Thomas Betteridge, Renaissance Quarterly *
This is a superb collection of essays ... this excellent work bridges digital humanities with printed results, creating a volume useful for scholars and students in a multiplicity of early modern fields of study. * Carole Levin and Andrea Nichols, Sixteenth Century Journal *
a major step forward ... The Oxford Handbook of Holinshed's Chronicles is a major achievement and will be welcomed by early modern scholars of all stripes. * Christopher Highley, Huntington Library Quarterly *
What editors Paulina Kewes, Ian W. Archer, and Felicity Heal have assembled in the Handbook is a thorough overview of the competing concerns that surround the Chronicles ... At almost eight hundred pages long, the Handbook threatens, upon first appearance, to be an unwieldy account of the Chronicles; and yet, as the reader begins "actively to engage with the text," it becomes three-dimensional in the composite perspective formed through the many varied angles from which the Chronicles are viewed. * William J. Humphries, The Spenser Review *
ISBN: 9780199565757
Dimensions: 253mm x 182mm x 48mm
Weight: 1544g
812 pages