Theatres and Encyclopedias in Early Modern Europe [Paperback]

This 2003 book places Renaissance drama within the cultural context of the encyclopedic texts written at the time.This book analyzes the discourses and practices that defined Renaissance theatre as related to the development of encyclopedic texts and vice versa. Looking at what 'theatre' meant to medieval and Renaissance writers and critics, West places Renaissance drama for the first time within one of its cultural and intellectual contexts. Although the study focuses on the period of the Renaissance, it also draws on and analyzes substantial classical and medieval material. It should be of equal interest to intellectual historians, theatre historians, and students of early literature.This book analyzes the discourses and practices that defined Renaissance theatre as related to the development of encyclopedic texts and vice versa. Looking at what 'theatre' meant to medieval and Renaissance writers and critics, West places Renaissance drama for the first time within one of its cultural and intellectual contexts. Although the study focuses on the period of the Renaissance, it also draws on and analyzes substantial classical and medieval material. It should be of equal interest to intellectual historians, theatre historians, and students of early literature.This book analyzes the discourses and practices that defined Renaissance theater, as related to the development of encyclopedic texts and vice versa. Looking at what theater meant to medieval and Renaissance writers and critics, William West sets Renaissance drama within one of its cultural and intellectual contexts. Although the study focuses on the Renaissance, it also draws on and analyzes substantial classical and medieval material. It is of equal interest to intellectual historians, theater historians and students of early literature.List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Note on texts; Introduction: circles of learning; 1. The space of the encyclopedia; 2. The idea of a theatre; 3. Tricks of vision, truthlóZ