Archaeologies of English Renaissance Literature

240 Pages·2007·3.34 MB·English

by  Philip Schwyzer

ARCHAEOLOGIES OF ENGLISH
RENAISSANCE LITERATURE
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Archaeologies of
English Renaissance
Literature
PHILIP SCHWYZER
1
1
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Preface
T study would not have been possible without the assistance of
a number of generous and open-minded archaeologists. I am deeply
grateful to Howard Williams, Carl Knappett, and others at the Uni-
versity ofExeter who responded so generously and productivelyto my
venture across disciplinary divides. I have rarely been so nervous as
when standing to address the research seminar of the Department of
Archaeology on the subject of our disciplinary intimacy. At an earlier
stage, when I was first beginning to explore the world and work of
archaeology,IreceivedinvaluableguidancefromRuthTringham,Meg
Conkey,DavidMiles,andBarbaraBender.Inthecourseofthisproject
I have also benefited from the advice of Roberta Gilchrist, Helena
Hamerow,andRichardParker.
Ontheliteraryside,Iamfortunateinmymanysplendidcolleagues
in the Department of English at the University of Exeter; particular
thanks are owed to Pascale Aebischer, Karen Edwards, Eddie Jones,
Colin McCabe, Nick McDowell, Andrew McRae, Dan North, and
MinWild.IoweenduringdebtstoJeffreyKnapp,JenniferMiller,and
StephenGreenblatt.Inresponsetoastringofanxiousemails,Graham
Parry provided expert advice and information on many points of
earlymodernantiquarianship;Ihopeheapprovesoftheoutcome.Iman
Hamamshedlightonthematterofmummies,andGrantVothprovided
acrucialclarifyingperspectiveontheproblemofShakespeare’stomb.
Much of what follows was first presented to research seminars at
Aberdeen, Bristol, Exeter, Oxford, and Sussex; I am grateful to the
participantsforvaluablequestionsandsuggestionswhichhaveallowed
me to make innumerable local improvements to the argument. At
Oxford University Press, my editor Andrew McNeillie has been an
exemplary source of support and encouragement. The anonymous
readers who evaluated the manuscript offered useful advice which I
hopetheywillfindreflectedinthepagesthatfollow.
viii Preface
Thewritingofthisbookwasmadepossiblebyayearofresearchleave,
jointlyfundedbytheUniversityofExeterandtheArtsandHumanities
Research Council. An abbreviated version of Chapter 3 appeared in
Representations, 95 (2006). Portions of Chapter 5 have appeared as a
chapter in Gerald Maclean (ed.), Reorienting the Renaissance: Cultural
ExchangeswiththeEast (Palgrave,2004).Iamgratefulinbothcasesfor
permissiontoreprintthoseportionshere.
Mydeepestdebt,always,istoNaomiHowell,whoreadandimproved
everypageoftheworkinprogressand,inthelastdaysofwriting,married
me.
Iwillnotspeakofthefamousbeautyofdeadwomen:
Iwillsaytheshapeofaleaflayonceonyourhair.
Tilltheworldendsandtheeyesareoutandthemouthsbroken
Look!Itisthere!
ArchibaldMacleish,‘NotMarbleNortheGildedMonuments’
Textual Note
Imodernizedthespellingandpunctuationofearlymoderntexts
from which I quote, with the exception of Edmund Spenser’s Faerie
Queene, with its deliberately archaic diction. Quotations from Middle
English texts are, where appropriate, accompanied by translations.
Exceptwhereotherwisenoted,allreferencestoShakespeare’sworksare
toTheNortonShakespeare, ed.StephenGreenblatt(NewYork:W.W.
Norton,1997).AllreferencestoSpenser’sFaerieQueenearetoEdmund
Spenser, The Faerie Queene, ed. A. C. Hamilton (London: Longman,
1977).AllquotationsfromtheBiblearefromtheKingJamesVersion,
exceptwherenoted.