Massinger’s Italy
Re-Imagining Italian Culture in the Plays of Philip Massinger
Samenvatting
The book rekindles the interest in Philip Massinger, one of the most successful professional playwrights of the post-Shakespearian period who suffered from comparative neglect.
It is the first book-length account of the crucial role of Italy in Massinger’s works and provides new insights into the playwright’s intellectual life by looking at his plays from a different angle.
It offers a new perspective on the development of the Anglo-Italian discourse on the early modern English stage, showing to what extent Massinger contributed to energising the ambivalent myth of Italy.
Relying on the concept of intertheatricality, the book sheds light on the elaborate and subtle network of interrelationships between Massinger’s plays and the works of his contemporaries, especially those set in Italy.