Book Description
Gary Waller surveys Spenser's career in terms of the material conditions of its production - the often overlooked material factors of race, gender, class, agency - and the resonant 'places' which influenced his career - court, church, nation, colony. The book includes an original account of the gender politics of Spenser's work and his difficult position between Ireland and England, the 'homes' about which he held ambivalent feelings. Waller also discusses the 'place' the biographer occupies in writing a literary life.
Edmund Spenser: A Literary Life FROM THE PUBLISHER
A provocative approach to a famous figure in English poetry and to the relationship of literature to biography - both the poet's and the critic's own. Gary Waller, known for accessibly combining contemporary literary and cultural theory with Renaissance poetry, provides an intriguing overview of the period's most praised poet. Examining Spenser's career in terms of the material conditions of his poetry's production - factors of race, gender, class, agency - and the 'places' of its production - court, church, nation, colony - he also writes movingly of the 'place' the biographer occupies in the construction of a 'literary life'. The book includes chapters on Spenser's poetry and career, including an original account of the gender politics of his work and his difficult position between Ireland and England, the 'homes' about which he held increasingly painful feelings.