Courteous exchanges

Spenser's and Shakespeare's gentle dialogues with readers and audiences

By: Patricia Wareh

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Paperback | 20 January 2026

At a Glance

Paperback
290 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.6 x 13.8 x 1.5

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$62.69

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Courteous exchanges explores the significant overlap between Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene and Shakespeare's plays, showing how both facilitate the critique of Renaissance aristocratic identity. Moving from a consideration of Castiglione's Book of the Courtier as a text that encouraged reader engagement, the book offers new readings of Shakespeare's plays in conjunction with Spenser. It pairs Love's Labour's Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, and The Winter's Tale with The Faerie Queene in order to explore how topics such as education, gender, religion, race, and aristocratic identity are offered up to reader and audience interpretation.

Industry Reviews

'Courteous exchanges is a needed addition to not only Spenser studies and Shakespeare studies but also the study of courtly rhetoric and performance.'
-John Garrison, Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et R©forme

'A number of critical conversations ought to change in response to Courteous exchanges.'
-Vincent Mennella, Spenser Review

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