Essays in memory of Richard Helgerson: laureations

This book brings together new essays by leading cultural critics who have been influenced by the groundbreaking scholarship of Richard Helgerson. The original essays penned for this anthology evince the ongoing impact of Helgerson’s work in major critical debates including national identity, literary careerism, and studies of form. Analyzing not only early modern but also medieval literary texts, the pieces that compriseEssays in Memory of Richard Helgerson: Laureationsrespond to both Helgerson’s more famous scholarly works and the whole range of his critical corpus, from his earliest work on prodigality to his latest writings on mid-sixteenth century European poets. The interdisciplinary, transnational, and comparativist spirit of Helgerson’s criticism is reflected in the essays, as is his commitment to studies of multiple genres that nevertheless attend to the particularities of form.Contributors offer new interpretations of several of Shakespeare’s plays—Hamlet, I Henry IV, The Tempest, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra, King Lear—and other dramas such as Beaumont’sThe Knight of the Burning Pestle, the anonymous dramaThe London Prodigal,and Stephen Greenblatt and John Mee’s contemporary playCardenio. In keeping with Helgerson’s comparativist turn, the volume includes analyses of Joachim Du Bellay’s poetry and Donato Gianotti’s discussion ofThe Divine Comedy. Prose works featured in the volume encompass More’sUtopiaand Isaac Walton’sThe Compleat Angler. Spenser’s early poetry and the medieval romanceFloris and Blanchflouralso receive new readings.