The Works of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (Oxford English Texts) - Hardcover

Rochester, John Wilmot Earl Of

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198183674 ISBN 13: 9780198183679

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 1999

Synopsis

John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester (1647-80), was a leading member of the group of 'court wits' surrounding Charles II. One of the wittiest and most sexually explicit poets in English, his poems circulated principally in manuscript, which makes the tracing of their transmissional history a peculiarly difficult task. In this long-awaited edition, Harold Love, one of the leading scholars of seventeenth-century manuscript circulation, presents a scholarly text based on detailed examination of the manuscripts, with full textual and explanatory notes. It will be an important contribution to the study of manuscript publication as well as a vital resource for all students of Rochester.

About this title

Product Description:

John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester (1647-80), was a leading member of the group of `court wits' surrounding Charles II. In this edition, Harold Love, one of the leading scholars of seventeenth-century manuscript circulation, presents a scholarly text based on detailed examination of the manuscripts, with full textual and explanatory notes.

Review:

The notes that explain this rich embroglio of lovers, monarch, male rivals, and political intrigue are so richly detailed and touch upon topics of so much erotic piquancy, that they often read like scholarly minatures of seventeenth-century novellas. (SEL, Summer 2000)

One other feature of this edition I think is innovatory - the use of computational stylists to determine authorship in seventeenth-century poetry ... This edition supersedes all earlier editions of Rochester. (Keith Walker, The Yearbook of English Studies, 31)

It contains everything that a student of Rochester might reasonably expect from a Clarendon Press Works together with some prose pieces ... All this is accompanied by a commentary that draws fully on Love's own immense knowledge of Rochester and his seventeenth-century contexts. (Keith Walker, The Yearbook of English Studies, 31)

this is an important book (The Times 7/10/99)

It is a strength of Love's edition that he does not attempt the impossible task of resolving the uncertainties but seeks overtly to incorporate the fact of authorial and textual instability into his editorial method ... There has never before been an edition so fully and learnedly annotated and so wisely and thoughtfully conceived ... The commentary is admirable, with magisterial coverage of political background, court doings and social mores. (Claude Rawson, TLS 17/09/99)

Now he has received the accolade of a full-dress edition from Oxford University Press ... excellent explanatory notes - straight-faced - but not strait-laced ... this is an important book (Jim McCue)

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0198183674
• ISBN 13: 9780198183679
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 712
• Editor: Love The Late Harold