Pseudonymous Shakespeare: Rioting Language in the Sidney Circle - Hardcover

McCarthy, Penny

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0754655083 ISBN 13: 9780754655084

Publisher: Routledge, 2006

Synopsis

An investigation into modes of early modern English literary 'indirection,' this study could also be considered a detective work on a pseudonym attached to some late sixteenth-century works. In the course of unmasking 'R.L.', McCarthy scrutinizes devices employed by writers in the Sidney coterie: punning, often across languages; repetitio-insistence on a sound, or hiding two persons 'under one hood'; disingenuous juxtaposition; evocation of original context; differential spelling (intended and significant). Among McCarthy's stunning-but solidly underpinned-conclusions are: Shakespeare used the pseudonym 'R.L.' among other pseudonyms; one, 'William Smith', was also his 'alias' in life; Shakespeare was at the heart of the Sidney circle, whose literary programme was hostile to Elizabeth I; and his work, composed mainly from the late 1570s to the early 90s, occasionally 'embedded' in the work of others, was covertly alluded to more often than has been recognized.

About this title

About the Author

Penny McCarthy took her MA and D. Phil. at Sussex University, and now holds an honorary research fellowship with the University of Glasgow, UK.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0754655083
• ISBN 13: 9780754655084
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288