Plays of Persuasion: Drama and Politics at the Court of Henry VIII Contributor(s): Walker, Greg (Author) |
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ISBN: 0511897383 ISBN-13: 9780511897382 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $140.25 Product Type: Open Ebook - Other Formats Published: November 2011 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - History | Europe - Great Britain - General - Drama | European - English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh |
Dewey: 822.2 |
Themes: - Cultural Region - British Isles |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: A detailed study of the interaction between drama and politics in the reign of Henry VIII. The subject is addressed both in general terms and through a series of case-studies of individual early Tudor plays. Through its innovative use of dramatic texts as historical source material, the book provides illuminating insights into the political and cultural history of the Henrician period, and into the perceived character of the King himself. It focuses on the troubled religious and political history of the reign, the culture of the Court, and the personality and governmental style of its head. In doing so the book argues for a reassessment of the reign, which places the King once more at the centre of affairs, and acknowledges the determining effect which this egotistical, charismatic but, above all, pragmatic monarch exercised on the artistic culture, as much as on the politics, of the Court. The book also demonstrates the close and specific links between the drama and the politics of the reign, through a detailed study of a number of key works, links which have hitherto been viewed only as general or peripheral. |