Literature & Literary Studies
Sir Philip Sidney: The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia
The New Arcadia, Second Revised Edition
by Victor Skretkowicz, Elisabeth Chaghafi, J. B. Lethbridge
Description
Shipwrecks, gory battle scenes, cross-dressing, toxic relationships, abduction, torture (psychological and physical), comical country bumpkins, and, of course, love and poetry -Sir Philip Sidney's witty pastoral romance The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia is the classic that has it all in terms of entertainment factors.
Modern readers mostly know Arcadia in its complete 'old' version, but it is the New Arcadia (published in 1590) that was the most influential and most widely imitated literary text of the sixteenth century. While preserving the basic plot - a ruler attempts to escape an alarming oracle by moving his family to the countryside and engaging in shepherd-cosplay until the arrival of two foreign princes triggers a chain of events leading to the fulfilment of the oracle - this version adds further narrative strands and introduces ambitious revisions that showcase Sidney's stylistic brilliance as a prose writer.
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Endorsements
When Sir Philip Sidney died in 1586, he was widely believed to have been one of the greatest English writers - despite the fact that most of his contemporaries had never read any of his works, which had only circulated in manuscript. This changed in 1590, with the publication of the New Arcadia - the revised version of his pastoral romance The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, which introduced him to a broader audience and served to confirm his reputation as a brilliant stylist in prose as well as in verse. Doubtless part of the New Arcadia's appeal consisted - and still consists - in the plot it largely shares with the Old Arcadia, involving shipwrecked princes going to great lengths to woo princesses who are jealously (if unsuccessfully) guarded by an overprotective father and a foolish shepherd, heroic and mock-heroic battles, various forms of intrigue, and rather a lot of poetry. But it was probably the features that set it apart from its Old cousin that accounted for the New Arcadia's popularity: its elaborate, beautifully crafted style, which prompted numerous imitators, and its revisions to the narrative that deliberately sacrifice linearity for a heightened sense of drama. This edition of the New Arcadia is the first in nearly four decades. It preserves the text of Victor Skretkowicz' celebrated 1987 edition, while supplementing it with a substantially expanded scholarly commentary, an updated glossary, and additional long notes on the book's history in print and Sidney's use of rhetorical devices.
Reviews
When Sir Philip Sidney died in 1586, he was widely believed to have been one of the greatest English writers - despite the fact that most of his contemporaries had never read any of his works, which had only circulated in manuscript. This changed in 1590, with the publication of the New Arcadia - the revised version of his pastoral romance The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, which introduced him to a broader audience and served to confirm his reputation as a brilliant stylist in prose as well as in verse. Doubtless part of the New Arcadia's appeal consisted - and still consists - in the plot it largely shares with the Old Arcadia, involving shipwrecked princes going to great lengths to woo princesses who are jealously (if unsuccessfully) guarded by an overprotective father and a foolish shepherd, heroic and mock-heroic battles, various forms of intrigue, and rather a lot of poetry. But it was probably the features that set it apart from its Old cousin that accounted for the New Arcadia's popularity: its elaborate, beautifully crafted style, which prompted numerous imitators, and its revisions to the narrative that deliberately sacrifice linearity for a heightened sense of drama. This edition of the New Arcadia is the first in nearly four decades. It preserves the text of Victor Skretkowicz' celebrated 1987 edition, while supplementing it with a substantially expanded scholarly commentary, an updated glossary, and additional long notes on the book's history in print and Sidney's use of rhetorical devices.
Author Biography
J.B. Lethbridge is Lecturer in English at Tübingen University J. B. Lethbridge is Lecturer in English Literature at Tübingen University
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View all titlesBibliographic Information
- Publisher Manchester University Press
- Publication Date February 2024
- Orginal LanguageEnglish
- ISBN/Identifier 9781526174970 / 1526174979
- Publication Country or regionUnited Kingdom
- FormatPrint PDF
- Pages680
- ReadershipGeneral/trade
- Publish StatusPublished
- Dimensions234 X 156 mm
- Biblio NotesDerived from Proprietary 5973
- SeriesThe Manchester Spenser
- Reference Code15896
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