“In 1611: Authority, Gender and the Word in Early Modern England, Helen Wilcox transports us back to the rich textual history of a single year in Jacobean England, where she proves to be the most amiable and knowledgeable of guides. Side by side, elite works next to popular, the year unfolds with all the curious excitement of an elegantly presented almanac. Whether your preference is for The King James Bible or Dekker and Middleton’s The Roaring Girl, Coryates Crudities or The Winter’s Tale, this is a splendid slice-of-life introduction to early modern England that will please new readers and specialists alike.”
―Jonathan F.S. Post, University of California, Los Angeles
“Fascinating, elegant, and eminently readable,
1611 is a treasure trove of information and critical insight. Wilcox displays great range, writing as smartly about Shakespeare as about Lanyer, about secular as about devotional works. She makes juxtapositions and connections among texts that are unexpected and illuminating.”
―Achsah Guibbory, Barnard College
“Conventionally, our knowledge of texts is filtered through canon formations, critical traditions, and political agendas, producing predictable selectivities, but different perspectives can be gained by the radically simple method Helen Wilcox adopts, of assembling the texts, connections and priorities of a key moment in the past. 1611 offers the student the chance to share a journey of discovery of a single year.”
―Cedric Brown, Professor Emeritus, University of Reading
From the Inside Flap
English literature and culture underwent transformative changes during the years following the death of Queen Elizabeth. Fundamental issues of identity informed by issues such as religious anxieties and debates on gender were being addressed for the first time by writers, poets, and playwrights of early 17th century England. 1611: Authority, Gender, and the Word in Early Modern England presents a lively and accessible account of the textual cultures of a landmark year in literary and cultural history. Author and literary scholar Helen Wilcox reveals the stunning range of texts that emerged in 1611, from the publication of the King James Bible and George Chapman’s new translation of Homer to the first printed works of poet John Donne and a selection of poems by Aemelia Lanyer, the first such volume in English written by a woman. Wilcox explores the wide range of literary styles and genres produced in this banner year — from travel-writing, madrigals, satires, and almanacs to sermons, drama, and orations — and delves deeply into issues of authority, gender, and language within and across the different works. By presenting a frozen moment in time in our literary past, 1611: Authority, Gender and the Word in Early Modern England offers a rich and vivid sense of the depth, range, and power of the textual world of 17th-century England.
From the Back Cover
English literature and culture underwent transformative changes during the years following the death of Queen Elizabeth. Fundamental issues of identity informed by issues such as religious anxieties and debates on gender were being addressed for the first time by writers, poets, and playwrights of early 17th century England. 1611: Authority, Gender, and the Word in Early Modern England presents a lively and accessible account of the textual cultures of a landmark year in literary and cultural history. Author and literary scholar Helen Wilcox reveals the stunning range of texts that emerged in 1611, from the publication of the King James Bible and George Chapman’s new translation of Homer to the first printed works of poet John Donne and a selection of poems by Aemelia Lanyer, the first such volume in English written by a woman. Wilcox explores the wide range of literary styles and genres produced in this banner year — from travel-writing, madrigals, satires, and almanacs to sermons, drama, and orations — and delves deeply into issues of authority, gender, and language within and across the different works. By presenting a frozen moment in time in our literary past, 1611: Authority, Gender and the Word in Early Modern England offers a rich and vivid sense of the depth, range, and power of the textual world of 17th-century England.
About the Author
Helen Wilcox is Professor of English at Bangor University, Wales, and Director of the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the Universities of Aberystwyth and Bangor. Her most recent major publication was the highly-acclaimed annotated edition of The English Poems of George Herbert (2007).
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