Russell A. Fraser Livres

Focusing on the cultural transition from the medieval past to the modern world, the author explores this significant shift in Western history, pinpointing the sixteenth century in England and two centuries earlier on the continent. By synthesizing a diverse array of quotations and references from art, music, philosophy, theology, and science, the book provides a comprehensive interpretation of how these elements interconnect and contribute to the break from tradition, offering a provocative perspective on historical change.

The book explores the 16th and 17th-century attack on poetry and theater in England, framing it as part of a broader cultural shift away from medieval traditions. Professor Fraser argues that this "war against poetry" reflects significant changes in societal values and artistic expression during the transition to the modern world. Through scholarly investigation, the text delves into the implications of this cultural movement and its impact on the arts.

The forty-one plays gathered in these volumes constitute the most extensive new survey of Renaissance drama in over forty years, and reflect both changes in taste and advances in scholarship since earlier collections. The editors have attempted to provide the materials for a truer view of the theater in which Shakespeare worked than has hiterto been possible in anthologies. Marlowe, Jonson, and Webster, by most accounts the best of Shakepare's contemporaries, are reporesented by their major plays. -- Preface.