Staging Women and the Soul-Body Dynamic in Early Modern England

Rezensionen / Stimmen

'Analyzing an impressive array of dramatic material-- including plays for the commercial theater, court masques, and theatrical entertainments such as puppet shows-- Johnson argues persuasively that the traditional coding of the soul as masculine and the body as feminine could at times be deployed to challenge rather than uphold women's subordination. This well-written and thoroughly researched study enriches our understanding of early modern gender ideologies and the drama that helped to produce and interpret them.' Michelle M. Dowd, University of North Carolina, Greensboro 'There is much to celebrate in this book, including its close attention to writings about the soul-body relationship, its attention to the effect of performances on an audience (consisting of both women and men), including the effect of using real human remains on the stage, and the plays' questioning of received gender ideologies.' Early Modern Studies Journal 'Its greater value is its often complex and nuanced examination of the contested relationship between gender and spirit inherent in discussion of the soul and body in early modern culture.' Seventeenth-Century News '... Johnson's book ably demonstrates not only how pervasively the soul-body stereotype informed cultural representations of women in the period but also how creative staging could deploy the dynamic not only to confirm but also to challenge the gender hierarchy.' Renaissance and Reformation 'In bringing the prominence of the soul-body relationship to the fore, as well as in showing up its many compliations, Staging Women and the Soul-Body Dynamic makes an important contribution to both religious and feminist studies.' Early Theatre 'The complexity of this analysis aptly reflects a period that reveled in paradox, even as it confirms the cultural centrality of the soul-body dynamic itself.' Renaissance Quarterly