Reading Class through Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton

Reviews / Votes

'... sensitive and magisterial at the same time, braided with past scholarship and yet original, it gives me a shiver when I absorb Warley's unselfconscious claims for the power of literature.' Roland Greene, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 'Working through this superb monograph, one has the impression of being in the classroom before a deeply skilled teacher of literary history and criticism. Chapter by chapter Warley does what such teachers do best: he leads us with efficiency and grace to what is central in a selection of texts ... the book's intellectual demands and critical insights are consistently illuminating.' Jeffrey Todd Knight, Modern Language Quarterly 'I am full of admiration for the project of this highly intelligent book. Warley reads class in the fabric of the texts, not outside them or in parallel, nonfictional genres. The works themselves are bearers of history and participate in the definitions and redefinitions that both mark and make change ... This is in every respect a book to reckon with.' Catherine Belsey, Renaissance Quarterly 'How do I love this project? Let me count the ways ... Warley has produced an important book, one well worth thinking about, whatever your theoretical or critical investments.' Crystal Bartolovitch, Shakespeare Studies 'Warley provides a rare example of how rich and challenging the language of class can be in renaissance texts.' Joel Swann, Studies in Theatre and Performance