Renaissance and Reformations: An Introduction to Early Modern English Literature

by Michael Hattaway

This volume offers a description of early modern habits of writing and reading, of publication and stage performance, and of political and religious writing.

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Paulina Postscriptum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a good and comprising study of different topics having to do with the English Renaissance in different branches of literature. Generally speaking I really liked it's style and language as well as a lot of the ideas and theories mentioned by Hattaway. However, quite a few of them could (and in my opinion, should) have been discussed in far more depth and detail. For example, I really liked what was mentioned concerning the character of Falstaff in Shakespeare' history plays (who, by the way, is one of my favourite characters of that whole time period). But, unfortunately, Hattaway did not really elaborate on his ideas. Nor did he explain or contextualize most of them in much detail. Therefore, whoever is looking for more detailed information on particular works, characters or authors should definitely also take a look at some other secondary material.
However, as a general overview and paired with a good lecture on this topic it is definitely a good read and, provided you are interested in the literature of Renaissance England, it is also interesting and really well-written.