Epistolary Courtiership and Dramatic Letters

Thomas Overbury and the Jacobean Playhouse

AvJackie Watson

Häftad, Engelska, 2026

Del i serien Edinburgh Critical Studies in Renaissance Culture

306 kr

Skickas . Fri frakt över 249 kr.

Fler format och utgåvor

Inbunden

2 002 kr

Beskrivning

Through an analysis of the career of the eminent courtier Sir Thomas Overbury, Epistolary Courtiership and Dramatic Letters re-examines what is meant by courtiership in the Jacobean period. With a particular focus on the years between 1609 and 1613, the book brings together many of the letters surrounding the scandal leading to Overbury's murder and provides an examination of epistolarity in the context of humanist and legal learning. Defining key themes of social mobility, homosociality and the legal power of James VI and I, it exposes the mechanisms by which men rose at his court and provides a context for a new reading of contemporary dramatic texts by Shakespeare, Webster and Chapman. The book argues that the changing performance of courtiership at James's court, the wider knowledge of that reflected in contemporary letters and consequently shifting attitudes, all alter the performance of courtiership in the playhouse.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-01-01
Mått:156 x 234 x 15 mm
Vikt:408 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Edinburgh Critical Studies in Renaissance Culture
Antal sidor:288
Förlag:Edinburgh University Press
ISBN:9781474483384

Utforska kategorier

Teater inom Kultur
Europas historia inom Historia och arkeologi
Rättshistoria inom Juridik

Mer om författaren

Jackie Watson is an independent scholar, with a PhD from Birkbeck College, University of London. Her published work has centred on early modern law and literature, and on literary ideas of the senses in the early modern period. She is co-chair of the Mapping the Early Modern Inns of Court project. She contributed chapters to Playing and Playgoing in Early Modern England, edited by Simon Smith and Emma Whipday (2022) and to Shakespeare/Sense, edited by Simon Smith (2020). Jackie co-edited The Senses in Early Modern England, 1558–1660 (2015).

Recensioner i media

Jackie Watson’s rich and generative book does two things with real brio. Firstly and archivally, she reimagines Overbury as courtier through a detailed, lucid attention to his letters, reading his life rather than his sensational death. Secondly, and conceptually, she makes the case for correspondence as compelling drama.

Innehållsförteckning

Acknowledgements Series Editors' PrefaceA Note on Letter Transcriptions Introduction: ‘Common Secrets, Common Dangers’: The Origins of a ‘Tragical’ Courtier 1. The Path to Power at the Jacobean Court: Overbury’s Rise 2. Secretary, Conduit and Minion: Overbury’s Courtly Zenith 3. The Fall of Icarus: Overbury’s Imprisonment 4. Royal Prerogative and the Role of Counsel in The Winter’s Tale 5. Defining Successful Courtiership in The Duchess of Malfi 6.Chapman’s Changing Worlds: From Bussy D’Ambois to The Revenge AfterwordReferencesIndex