Richard F. Hardin's Books

Love in a Green Shade

Idyllic Romances Ancient to Modern

By: Richard F. Hardin

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Love in a Green Shade

Idyllic Romances Ancient to Modern

By: Richard F. Hardin

Love in a Green Shade examines for the first time in depth the reception history of Daphnis and Chloe in literature, beginning with its Renaissance rediscovery and working through its various transformations in English, French, Spanish, and other literatures. At the same time, Richard F. Hardin launches a groundbreaking exploration of the idyllic romance tradition in fiction and drama. While Virgil and Theocritus beget a tradition of poetry concerned with male eroticism, idyllic romance centers on the couple in a story pointing toward marriage. In addition to Daphnis and Chloe, this study considers numerous works influenced by the idyllic romance tradition, including Shakespeare?s The Tempest, Milton?s Paradise Lost, Bernardin?s Paul et Virginie, Stowe?s The Pearl of Orr?s Island, Cather?s O Pioneers!, novels by Sand, Hardy, and Pardo Bazan, Louis Hemon?s Maria Chapdelaine, and Mishima?s The Sound of Waves.

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Page Count

300

Publisher

U of Nebraska Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0803223943

ISBN 13

9780803223943

Plautus and the English Renaissance of Comedy

By: Richard F. Hardin

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Plautus and the English Renaissance of Comedy

By: Richard F. Hardin

The fifteenth-century discovery of Plautus’s lost comedies brought him, for the first time since antiquity, the status of a major author both on stage and page. It also led to a reinvention of comedy and to new thinking about its art and potential. This book aims to define the unique contribution of Plautus, detached from his fellow Roman dramatist Terence, and seen in the context of that European revival, first as it took shape on the Continent. The heart of the book, with special focus on English comedy ca. 1560 to 1640, analyzes elements of Plautine technique during the period, as differentiated from native and Terentian, considering such points of comparison as dialogue, asides, metadrama, observation scenes, characterization, and atmosphere. This is the first book to cover this ground, raising such questions as: How did comedy rather suddenly progress from the interludes and brief plays of the early sixteenth century to longer, more complex plays? What did “Plautus” mean to playwrights and readers of the time? Plays by Shakespeare, Jonson, and Middleton are foregrounded, but many other comedies provide illustration and support.

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Page Count

207

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

1683931297

ISBN 13

9781683931294

Civil Idolatry

Desacralizing and Monarchy in Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton

By: Richard F. Hardin

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Civil Idolatry

Desacralizing and Monarchy in Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton

By: Richard F. Hardin

This book discusses the tensions in major Renaissance literary texts between the cult of monarchy and its subversions by Christianity. It corrects some modern scholars' assumptions of a prevailing divine-right theory of monarchy. A recurring theme from the English mystery plays to Milton proposes an inherent tendency of monarchy toward idolatry. The chapter on Erasmus makes a case for a strong tradition of political libertarianism that became a notable emphasis in English humanism. Then follow three essays on Spenser (especially Faerie Queene V and View), Shakespeare (especially the political plays of the late 1590s), and Milton (political writings, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained.). Ozment and others have shown that the Reformation fostered the desacralizing of secular life, an impulse that Schneidau has seen as central to the Hebrew-Christian tradition. Texts like the infamous Vindiciae contra Tyrannos support this interpretation as regards monarchy, rather than the received views of Kantorowicz, which are perhaps more relevant to the Continent. The king-figure in the English mystery plays is often the butt of satire, in contrast to his more dignified counterpart in some Continental drama. The king-figure enters the morality-play tradition as the "pride of life," a transition observed in the hybrid play Mary Magdalene. Erasmus's writings develop from a unified political and religious sensibility in accord with what Mesnard calls his evangelisme politique. For Erasmus, order is not an end in itself but serves the ends of peace, which in turn allow the human soul the optimum liberty to choose or reject the virtuous life. Thomas More's earlier agreement with, and later departure from, Erasmus's views on political authority are related to the Henrician political crisis. Spenser's anti-absolutism and Erasmus-like concept of peace, order, and liberty are disclosed in explications of the Isis Temple, Souldan, Gerioneo, and Grantorto episodes of Faerie Queene V. These and other writings show the poet's belief in the need for aristocracy to act in the service of truth. Shakespeare's "second tetralogy" moves toward Henry V's renouncing "idol ceremony," in contrast to Julius Caesar, which presents a model of disordered polity. Civil idolatry (Milton's phrase) in that play and in Milton's long poems leads to tyranny and ritualism, accompanied by fear and awe. This logic is woven into the texture of hell in Paradise Lost. Paradise Regained advances the position through its redefinition of conquest and fatherhood in response to the "conquest theory" and patriarchalism with which monarchists justified their cause. Ultimately Milton places the blame for civil idolatry on the majority, who prefer a condition of subservience and awe because, as Shakespeare's Henry V declared, it relieves them of the responsibilities of consciousness. The epilogue glances at new directions in a comparison of the coronations of Charles II and of William and Mary.

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Page Count

286

Publisher

University of Delaware Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0874134269

ISBN 13

9780874134261

Book's by Richard F. Hardin

Love in a Green Shade

Love in a Green Shade

Plautus and the English Renaissance of Comedy

Plautus and the English Renaissance of Comedy

Civil Idolatry

Civil Idolatry

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