Epistolary Courtiership and Dramatic Letters
Thomas Overbury and the Jacobean Playhouse
1st Edition
Published on 31. May 2024
288 pages
978-1-4744-8339-1 (ISBN)
Description
Through an analysis of the career of the eminent courtier Sir Thomas Overbury, Epistolary Courtiership and Dramatic Letters re-examines what is meant by courtiership in the Jacobean period. With a particular focus on the years between 1609 and 1613, the book brings together many of the letters surrounding the scandal leading to Overbury's murder and provides an examination of epistolarity in the context of humanist and legal learning. Defining key themes of social mobility, homosociality and the legal power of James VI and I, it exposes the mechanisms by which men rose at his court and provides a context for a new reading of contemporary dramatic texts by Shakespeare, Webster and Chapman. The book argues that the changing performance of courtiership at James's court, the wider knowledge of that reflected in contemporary letters and consequently shifting attitudes, all alter the performance of courtiership in the playhouse.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
File size
3,44 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4744-8339-1 (9781474483391)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Jackie Watson
Epistolary Courtiership and Dramatic Letters
Thomas Overbury and the Jacobean Playhouse
Book
05/2024
Edinburgh University Press
€131.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Content
- Cover
- Half Title
- Series Page
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Series Editors' Preface
- A Note on Letter Transcriptions
- Dedication
- Introduction: 'Common Secrets, Common Dangers': The Origins of a 'Tragical' Courtier
- 1. The Path to Power at the Jacobean Court: Overbury's Rise
- 2. Secretary, Conduit and Minion: Overbury's Courtly Zenith
- 3. The Fall of Icarus: Overbury's Imprisonment
- 4. Royal Prerogative and the Role of Counsel in The Winter's Tale
- 5. Defining Successful Courtiership in The Duchess of Malfi
- 6. Chapman's Changing Worlds: From Bussy D'Ambois to The Revenge
- Afterword
- References
- Index
