Andy Kesson is a Senior Lecturer in Renaissance Literature at the University of Roehampton

Andy Kesson shows that Lyly's work requires serious attention, reshaping our idea of the early modern period. Kesson challenges notions of Shakespeare's preeminence and establishes Lyly as absolutely key to many of our current critical concerns. This is a book that is lucid, learned, and above all enthusiastic about its subject.'Emma Smith, Fellow in English at Hertford College, OxfordKesson does a terrific job of exposing centuries of unwarranted condescension towards Lyly and of attuning us both to his sense of humour and his and Cawood's innovative marketing of prose fiction.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: our Lyly?Part one: Lyly and prose fiction1. Buy the book: imaginative stories in the book market (1566–1578)2. Euph culture: Lyly, Euphues and the market for single-story books (1578–1594)Part two: Lyly, performance and print3. 'Whatsoever we present': Lyly's elusive theatre (1583–c.1590)4. 'This is the first': creating a market for printed plays (1584–1594)Part three: euphuism and reception5. A hopeless Romantic? Lyly, euphuism and a history of non-reading (1632–1905)Conclusion: go dareBibliographyIndex

Andy Kesson is a Senior Lecturer in Renaissance Literature at the University of Roehampton

Andy Kesson shows that Lyly's work requires serious attention, reshaping our idea of the early modern period. Kesson challenges notions of Shakespeare's preeminence and establishes Lyly as absolutely key to many of our current critical concerns. This is a book that is lucid, learned, and above all enthusiastic about its subject.'Emma Smith, Fellow in English at Hertford College, OxfordKesson does a terrific job of exposing centuries of unwarranted condescension towards Lyly and of attuning us both to his sense of humour and his and Cawood's innovative marketing of prose fiction.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: our Lyly?Part one: Lyly and prose fiction1. Buy the book: imaginative stories in the book market (1566–1578)2. Euph culture: Lyly, Euphues and the market for single-story books (1578–1594)Part two: Lyly, performance and print3. 'Whatsoever we present': Lyly's elusive theatre (1583–c.1590)4. 'This is the first': creating a market for printed plays (1584–1594)Part three: euphuism and reception5. A hopeless Romantic? Lyly, euphuism and a history of non-reading (1632–1905)Conclusion: go dareBibliographyIndex

Andy Kesson is a Senior Lecturer in Renaissance Literature at the University of Roehampton

Andy Kesson shows that Lyly's work requires serious attention, reshaping our idea of the early modern period. Kesson challenges notions of Shakespeare's preeminence and establishes Lyly as absolutely key to many of our current critical concerns. This is a book that is lucid, learned, and above all enthusiastic about its subject.'Emma Smith, Fellow in English at Hertford College, OxfordKesson does a terrific job of exposing centuries of unwarranted condescension towards Lyly and of attuning us both to his sense of humour and his and Cawood's innovative marketing of prose fiction.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: our Lyly?Part one: Lyly and prose fiction1. Buy the book: imaginative stories in the book market (1566–1578)2. Euph culture: Lyly, Euphues and the market for single-story books (1578–1594)Part two: Lyly, performance and print3. 'Whatsoever we present': Lyly's elusive theatre (1583–c.1590)4. 'This is the first': creating a market for printed plays (1584–1594)Part three: euphuism and reception5. A hopeless Romantic? Lyly, euphuism and a history of non-reading (1632–1905)Conclusion: go dareBibliographyIndex