Allegory, Space and the Material World in the Writings of Edmund Spenser PDF
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Allegory, Space and the Material World in the Writings of Edmund Spenser Christopher Burlinson Studies in Renaissance Literature Studies in Renaissance Literature Volume 17 ALLEGORY, SPACE AND THE MATERIAL WORLD IN THE WRITINGS OF EDMUND SPENSER This book provides a radical reassessment of Spenserian allegory, in particularofSpenser’spoem,TheFaerieQueene,inthelightofcontem- poraryhistoricalandtheoreticalinterestsinspaceandmaterialculture.It explorestheambiguousandfluctuatingattentiontomateriality,objects, andsubstanceinthepoeticsofTheFaerieQueene,anddiscussestheway thatSpenser’screationofallegoricalmeaningmakesuseofthismateri- ality,andtransformsit.Itsuggestsfurtherthatacriticalengagementwith materiality (which has been so important to the recent study of early moderndrama)mustcome,inthecaseofallegoricalnarrative,througha study of narrative and physical space, and in this context it goes on to provide a reading of the spatial dimensions of the poem – quests and battles, forests, castles and hovels – and the spatial characteristics of Spenser’sotherwritings.ThebookreaffirmstheneedtoplaceSpenserin hishistoricalcontexts–philosophicalandscientific,militaryandarchi- tectural – in early modern England, Ireland, and Europe, but also provides a critical reassessment of this literary historicism. DRCHRISTOPHERBURLINSONisaResearchFellowinEnglishatEmmanuel College,Cambridge. Studies in Renaissance Literature ISSN 1465–6310 General Editors David Colclough Raphael Lyne StudiesinRenaissanceLiteratureoffersinvestigationsoftopicsinEnglishliterature focussedinthesixteenthandseventeenthcenturies;itsscopeextendsfromearly Tudorwriting,includingworksreflectingmedievalconcerns,totheRestoration period. Studies exploring the interplay between the literature of the English Renaissance and its cultural history are particularly welcomed. Proposalsorqueriesshouldbesentinthefirstinstancetotheeditors,ortothe publisher, at the addresses given below; all submissions receive prompt and informed consideration. Dr David Colclough, School of English and Drama, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS Dr Raphael Lyne, New Hall, Cambridge, CB3 0DF Boydell & Brewer Ltd, PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK Previously published volumes in this series are listed at the back of this volume ALLEGORY, SPACE AND THE MATERIAL WORLD IN THE WRITINGS OF EDMUND SPENSER Christopher Burlinson D. S. BREWER © Christopher Burlinson 2006 All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner First published 2006 D. S. Brewer, Cambridge ISBN 1 84384 078 2 D. S. Brewer is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.com A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library This publication is printed on acid-free paper Typeset by Pru Harrison, Hacheston, Suffolk Printed in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire CONTENTS List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgements xi List of Abbreviations xiii Preface xv PartI: SpaceandMaterialityintheRealmofAllegoricalRomance 1. Accounting for the Material in Spenser’s Allegory 3 2. Space, Place, and Location: Inside and Outside the Poem 22 Part II: Architectural Space and the Status of the Object in TheFaerieQueene 3. Galleries: Space, Mythography, and the Object 47 4. Royal Chambers: Space and Presence 73 PartIII: BeleagueredSpaces 5. ‘Goodly Workemanship’: Fortifications and the Body 97 6. Defended Spaces, Fast Spaces, Proper Spaces 128 7. The Stones of Kilcolman: Spenserian Biography, the Ruin, and 149 the Material Fragment PartIV: ThePhysicalandAllegorizedLandscape 8. Deforestation and the Spenserian Wood 167 9. The Houses of the Poor 195 Conclusion 220 Bibliography 223 Index 247 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Robert Glover,Nobilitas Politica vel Civilis(1608) 88 2. John Derricke,The Image of Irelande with a Discouerie of Woodkarne, 91 ed. by John Small (Edinburgh: Black, 1883), plate 12 3. Balthazar Gerbier,The Interpreter of the Academie for Forrain 107 Languages, and Noble Sciences, and Exercises(London, 1648) 4. J. Errard de Bar-le-Duc,La fortification redvicte en art(Paris, 1594; 121 repr. Frankfurt a. M., 1604) 5. N. P. Willis and J. S. Coyne,The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland, 156 2 vols (1842), vol. 2 The illustrations are reproduced by permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library. DidtheyoftenthinkofthepartIrelandhadplayedinthepoetryas wellasthelifeofthisnewarrivalatcourt?Didtheyrealisethatthe mountains and forests, the clay cottages, the lonely castles, the crudelyarmedmobs,evenperhapsthebloodandcrimeandfamine owed often a vague yet undoubted obligation to Ireland? Alexander C. Judson,The Life of Edmund Spenser “Inmyaccount,forwhosemanyfailingsIbegyourpardon,thelife cycleofthefrogmaysoundallegorical,buttothefrogsthemselvesit is no allegory, it is the thing itself, the only thing.” J. M. Coetzee,Elizabeth Costello For Elizabeth Anne Burlinson (1951–2002)
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