Resource Post 11

For my last post I would like to offer a secondary source on the subject of Renaissance friendship (particularly as it relates to Shakespeare and his works): Sovereign Amity: Figures of Friendship in Shakespearian Contexts, by Laurie Shannon.

In this book, Shannon explores the idea of the friend as a "another self" within early modern friendships, where friends were likened to one soul split between two bodies. She explores this idea of friendship--along with the corresponding ideas of the second self and the shared soul--in regard to societal, historical, and literary contexts. Her argument throughout the book is that friendship was a model for political discourse, and writers of the early modern period explored the idea of sovereignty through their construction of friendship.

This books offers information at a variety of levels. First, Shannon does provide background information on Renaissance society and culture, as well (of course) as on ideas of friendship during the period. This gives a solid base of information from which to build one's topic/argument further. Second, Shannon ties together the culture of the early modern period with literature of the period, exploring (as mentioned above) how writers tinkered with the idea of friendship and love as a way of exploring political discourse and societal ideals. This, then, provides a good resource for those looking at how early modern English society and literature interacted, particular with regard to such love and friendship. Third, Shannon provides analyses of a variety of early modern English texts (mostly Shakespeare's), focusing on the importance and function of friendship within those works. This is a wonderful resource, then, for scholarship on this topic as it specifically relates to and is employed in specific Renaissance works.

Now, as far as I'm aware, Arden of Faversham is not treated in Shannon's book. However, much of what Shannon writes (with the exception of her readings of specific texts that are not Arden of Faversham) is applicable to many pieces of Renaissance literature, and thus I recommend it for anyone interested in the connection between Renaissance friendship and Renaissance literature.

Also, there several other books with a more narrow (but perhaps also more thorough) focus on the connection between friendship and culture in the early modern period (in one way or another). It may be worth looking at: Against Reproduction: Where Renaissance Texts Come From, by the wonderful Stephen Guy-Bray; Textual Intercourse: Collaboration, Authorship, and Sexualities in Renaissance Drama, by Jeffrey Masten, and The Renaissance of Lesbianism in Early Modern England, by Valerie Traub.