Theatre, Finance and Society in Early Modern England

This interesting study examines emotional responses to socio-economic pressures in early modern England, as they are revealed in plays, historical narratives and biographical accounts of the period. These texts yield fascinating insights into the various, often unpredictable, ways in which people coped with the exigencies of credit, debt, mortgaging and capital ventures. Plays discussed include Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Timon of Athens, Jonson's The Alchemist and Massinger's A New Way to Pay Old Debts. They are paired with writings by and about the finances of the corrupt Earl of Suffolk, the privateer Walter Raleigh, the royal agent Thomas Gresham, theatre entrepreneur James Burbage, and the Lord Treasurer Lionel Cranfield. Leinwand's new readings of these texts reveal a blend of affect and cognition concerning finance that includes nostalgia, anger, contempt, embarrassment, tenacity, bravado and humility.

ISBN 0521034663   Volumes 1 ISBN13 9780521034661 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 320 Publisher Cambridge University Press   Published in Cambridge Imprint Cambridge University Press   Series editor Orgel, Stephen, Barton, Anne, Dollimore, Jonathan Format Paperback   Series ISSN 31 Publication date 14 Dec 2006   Series title Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature & Culture Library of Congress PR658.E35 L45 1999   Height (mm) 228 DEWEY 820.9355   Width (mm) 152 DEWEY edition DC21   Spine width (mm) 13 Pages 216   Academic level Professional / Scholarly

Acknowledgments; Introduction: affective economies; 1. Credit crunch; 2. Debt restructuring; 3. Mortgage payments; 4. Venture capital; Afterword; Notes; Index.

"...Leinwand provides a fascinating glimpse into both early modern economic practices and the variety of the age's affective responses to them." Choice "The renewed interest...has enriched and complicated our understanding of the early modern period and its literature...Leinwand's accounts...are impressive in their detail..." Renaissance Quarterly

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