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Table of contents (13 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Introduction: Engaging Doubt
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The Reception of Ancient Scepticism in Elizabethan and Jacobean England
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Front Matter
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Fools of Nature: Scepticism and Tragedy
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
Reviews
'William Hamlin engages with doubt in a refreshingly new and interdisciplinary manner, grounding his project in archival research and in a deep understanding of the ways in which literary and non-literary discourses can inform one another. Finding in Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedy a congenial environment for explorations of perception, knowledge and judgement, Hamlin masterfully combines a reading of Montaigne and the texts of ancient Pyrrhonism in order to clarify the historical reception of sceptical ideas in early modern England. The result is a book that convincingly approaches Shakespeare and his fellow dramatists from the perspective of a sceptical orientation whose importance in the Renaissance must not be underestimated'. - David Bevington, Professor of English, University of Chicago, USA
'William Hamlin's careful scholarly detective work shows in most illuminating fashion that sceptical themes are prevalent in some of the major literary writings in English at the time of Shakespeare, and that many authors were influenced, in varying ways, by Sextus Empiricus and by Montaigne. This is a very significant scholarly book which should be of great value to readers in many fields'. - Richard Popkin, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Washington University, USA, and adjunct Professor of Philosophy and History at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA
'This is an erudite and innovative study that establishes the centrality of early modern scepticism in English literary culture. Casting a wide net, William Hamlin provides a superb account of the diffusion of various strains of scepticism in Elizabethan and Jacobean England, along with the manner in which such ideas permeated contemporary drama, especially tragedy. Hamlin's meticulously researched, forcefully argued, and deftly presented analysis should prove invaluable both to literary scholars and intellectual historians.' - Mordechai Feingold, Professor of History, California Institute of Technology, USA
Authors and Affiliations
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Department of English, Washington State University, USA
William M. Hamlin
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Tragedy and Scepticism in Shakespeare's England
Authors: William M. Hamlin
Series Title: Early Modern Literature in History
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230502765
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts Collection, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited 2005
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4039-4598-3Published: 01 June 2005
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-52334-4Published: 01 June 2005
eBook ISBN: 978-0-230-50276-5Published: 01 June 2005
Series ISSN: 2634-5919
Series E-ISSN: 2634-5927
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 306
Topics: Poetry and Poetics, Literary Theory, Cultural Theory, History of Britain and Ireland, Early Modern/Renaissance Literature, History of Early Modern Europe