Selected Essays on George Gascoigne

<p>This collection of essays situates George Gascoigne in context as the pre-eminent writer of the early part of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. His ceaseless experimentation was hugely influential on those later Elizabethans - including Spenser Sidney and Shakespeare - who represent the great flowering of the English literary renaissance. Gascoigne rarely returned to a genre writing prose fiction blank verse plays sonnets narrative verse courtly entertainments satire and many other literary forms and the later Elizabethans were fully aware of his significance. </p><p>These essays are organised into three main sections: influences upon Gascoigne such as Skelton; Gascoigne’s influence on others including Spenser; and finally a reassessment of his critical neglect and the story behind his marginalised status in the English literary canon. As only the second multi-authored essay collection on Gascoigne this book makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of this important and often misunderstood writer.</p>