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What is the art of memory? Rebeca Helfer's intertextual study Spenser's Ruins and the Art of Recollection offers a fresh perspective on the significance of this ancient mnemonic technique to Edmund Spenser's writing and, through this lens, explores the art's complex historical and literary reception.
Beginning with the origins of mnemonic strategies in epic tales, Helfer examines how the art of memory speaks to debates about poetry and its place in culture from Plato to Spenser's present day. As Helfer argues, ruins provide memorial spaces for an ongoing dialogue about how story relates to history, and how both relate to edification and empire-building.
Through detailed, intertextual readings of The Shepheardes Calender, The Faerie Queene, the Complaints, and other Spenserian works, Helfer demonstrates how the art of memory shapes Spenser's theory and practice of poetry as well as his political view, throughout his career. More broadly, Spenser's Ruins and the Art of Recollection points to new ways of understanding the importance of this art within literary studies.
'Highly recommended.' -- D.M. Moore Choice Magazine, vol 50:05:2012
| Acknowledgments | p. ix |
| Preface: Preamble to Ruin | p. xi |
| Spenser's Complaints: The Fall of Troy, the Ruin of Rome, and the Art of Recollection | p. 3 |
| The Death of the "New Poete": Ruin and Recollection in The Shepheardes Calender | p. 72 |
| The Ruines of Time and the Art of Recollection | p. 136 |
| "The Methode of a Poet Historical [and]… an Historiographer": Recollecting the Past in the 1590 Faerie Queene | p. 168 |
| Golden Age Recollections: Prehistory as Present in Spenser's Later Work | p. 231 |
| Conclusion: Misprision and Freedom: Ruining and Recollecting the Bower of Bliss | p. 299 |
| Notes | p. 319 |
| Bibliography | p. 355 |
| Index | p. 377 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9780802090676
ISBN-10: 0802090672
Audience:
Professional
Format:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 408
Published: 24th July 2012
Dimensions (cm): 24.1 x 17.0
x 4.0
Weight (kg): 0.81
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