Spenser's life and the subject of biography

Description:

On the 400th anniversary of The Faerie Queene, this book challenges the received tradition of Spenser's biography. The first "life" of Edmund Spenser (c. 1552-99) was written by the poet himself, in allegorical fictions of poetic ambition, envy, and anxiety. Over succeeding centuries, readers have tried to revise and elaborate this life with reference to a handful of surviving records and a wealth of dubiously pertinent historical fact and gossip. The nine essays in this volume examine the history of Spenser biography and suggest strategies for reinterpreting it to an audience newly sensitive to problems of artistic self-presentation.

subjects: Biography,  Biography as a literary form,  Self in literature,  History and criticism,  English Poets,  Poets in literature,  Spenser, edmund, 1552?-1599,  Poètes anglais,  Biographies,  Histoire,  Biographie (Genre littéraire),  Poètes dans la littérature,  Moi (Psychologie) dans la littérature,  LITERARY CRITICISM,  Shakespeare,  Biografieën,  English Literature,  English,  Languages & Literatures

People: Edmund Spenser (1552?-1599)

Times: Early modern, 1500-1700