Masculinity and Emotion in Early Modern English Literature

Jennifer C. Vaught is Jean-Jacques and Aurore Labbé Fournet / Board of Regents Professor in English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA.

• Contents: Introduction: men who weep and wail: masculinity and emotion in early modern English literature. Part 1 The Intertextual Poetics of Scholarly Men: Affect in Arboreal Works by Spenser and Jonson: Passionate Protestantism: Spenser's dialogic, feminine voice in Book I of The Faerie Queen; A pen as mighty as the sword: stoical anger in Jonson's Timber, or Discoveries upon Men and Matter. Part 2 Emotional Kings and their Stoical Usurpers in History Plays by Marlowe and Shakespeare: 'Monster of men!': androgyny, affect, and politically savvy action in Marlowe's Edward II; 'Wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes': woeful rhetoric and crocodile tears in Shakespeare's Richard II. Part 3 Chivalric Knights, Courtiers, and Shepherds Prone to Tears in Pastoral Romances by Sidney and Spenser: Crossdressers in love: men of feeling and narrative urgency in Sidney's New Arcadia; 'To sing like birds i' th' cage': lyrical, private expressions of emotion in Book VI of Spenser's Faerie Queen. Part 4 Demonstrative Family Men: Masculinity and Sentiment in Works by Shakespeare, Lanyer, Cary, Donne, Walton and Garrick: 'Affection! thy intention stabs the center': male irrationality vs. female composure in Shakespeare's Winter's Tale; Nightmarish visions of grief: lamentable men in Shakespeare's Winter's Tale and Walton's Life of Dr John Donne; Fathers and rogues: peddling middle-class values by shedding tears on stage in David Garrick's Florizel and Perdita; Postscript; Bibliography; Index.

'....contributes to the growing critical discussion of early modern masculinity and complements studies already in print of femininity and affect in the period.' Patricia Phillippy, Texas A&M University, USA ’Masculinity and Emotion in Early Modern English Literature makes a significant addition to the study of affect, feeling, emotions and mood in various disciplines over the last fifteen to twenty years. ...Vaught makes a strong case for the nuanced valuation of masculine emotional expressiveness (strong or otherwise) in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English culture. ...It is a mark of the book’s clarity of focus and admirably incremental argumentation that this material seems, not just fresh, but also up to the task of providing something of a finale.’ Parergon ’Vaught not only explores gender within the early modern period but considers how postmodern theory might rethink agency in relation to particular cultural and historical contexts. I would recommend this book to students, scholars, or readers interested in the field. It is well worth study.’ Renaissance Quarterly