Sidney's Rewriting of the Arcadia

by Regina Schneider

This study presents a radically original theory of how and why Sir Philip Sidney's ""The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia"" (1590) matured from a very conventional collection of lyric poems into a comprehensive prose narrative. Schneider grounds the multiple versions of Sidney's text in historical, narratological, and biographical contexts and in particular tracks the influence of international Renaissance literary theory on Sidney's revisions. The courtier-poet of Schneider's analysis emerges as a revolutionary figure in European literary She demonstrates that Sidney's revised Arcadia ought to be read as the practical demonstration of the theoretical problems of voice and narrative with which he wrestled during the composition of his ""Apology for Poetry"", and ultimately argues that in the Arcadia Sidney ""surpasse[d] his models and explore[d] new ways of story-telling, ways that were to become indispensable for the rise of the novel in the eighteenth century."" ""Sidney's (Re)Writing of the ""Arcadia"""" is primarily addressed to students and scholars of the Renaissance, who will find in this study valuable information on the literary tools available not only to writers of prose fiction but also to contemporary dramatists such as Marlow and Shakespeare. But because of its focus on basic poetic structures, the text will also interest readers concerned with the development of English prose fiction in general and with the ""birth of the modern novel"" in particular.

238 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2008