Thomas Heywood and the Classical Tradition

Tania Demetriou is lecturer at the Faculty of English at the University of CambridgeJanice Valls-Russell is a principal research associate of France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the University Paul Valéry, Montpellier

'Thomas Heywood and the Classical Tradition expands the critical consideration given to the copious literary output of Heywood, taking as its unifying theme the early modern playwright’s prodigious use andadaptation of classical sources. The twelve contributors examine a wide range of Heywood’s work, and their impressive coverage speaks to both their own and Heywood’s intellectual depth and creative breadth.'Journal of British Studies 'Thomas Heywood and the Classical Tradition addresses an important gap in our appreciation of how one of Shakespeare’s most prolific and unfairly denigrated contemporaries read and reworked the classics throughout his long literary career, which spanned the reigns of Elizabeth I, James I and Charles I.'All in all, this book vindicates an author who, often criticized for yoking together wildy different registers and styles, actually wore his classicism with great skill, originality and aplomb.'Sonia Massai, King’s College London'This edited collection revitalises research on Heywood by drawing together studies which elucidate important themes and practices that inform all his many writings. Alongside these significant findings are intricate details and close readings that illuminate neglected works and highlight their sophistication.'Northern Renaissance'Thomas Heywood and the Classical Tradition performs a real service in bringing to light an unjustly neglected dramatist and poet.'Cahiers Elisabethains

• Introduction: Thomas Heywood and ‘the antique world’Janice Valls-Russell and Tania Demetriou1 Intertextuality and Thomas Heywood’s early Ovid: Oenone and ParisKatherine Heavey2 Thomas Heywood’s Loves Schoole: emulation, adaptation, and anachronismM. L. Stapleton3 Rescripting classical stories of rape from page to stage: Lucrece and CallistoJanice Valls-Russell4 ‘Interlaced with sundry histories’: the open structure of The Silver AgeYves Peyré5 A ‘glorious Greek’? Thomas Heywood and HerculesRichard Rowland6 The not-so-classical tradition: mythographic complexities in 1 Iron AgeCharlotte Coffin7 Reading the classics, but how? mythographic paradigms and ‘ill-joined marquetry’Yves Peyré8 Compendious poetry: Homer and Ausonius in Thomas Heywood’s Various History Concerninge WomenTania Demetriou9 ‘The scene lies in Hel’: the world of Lucian in Thomas Heywood’s ‘stage-poetry’Camilla Temple10 Acting like GreeksTanya Pollard11 A theatre for the Iron Age: theorising practice in Thomas Heywood’s Ages playsChloe Kathleen Preedy12 The Sovereign of the Seas: Thomas Heywood’s 3D engagement with the classicsJanice Valls-RussellAppendix: Heywood’s works: a chronological tableSelect bibliographyIndex