Dreaming the English Renaissance : Politics and Desire in Court and Culture

Dreaming The English Renaissance Examines Ideas About Dreams, Actual Dreams People Had And Recorded, And The Many Ways Dreams Were Used In The Culture And Politics Of The Tutor/stuart Age In Order To Provide A Window Into The Mental Life And The Most Profound Beliefs Of People Of The Time. 1605, The Year Of Three Dreams -- Theorists And Practitioners: Dreaming About The Living And The Dead -- Religion And Witchcraft -- Sexuality, Power, And Dreams Of A New Dynasty -- Sacred Blood And Monarchy . Carole Levin. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [189]-204) And Index. Dreaming the English Renaissance examines ideas about dreams, actual dreams people had and recorded, and the many ways dreams were used in the culture and politics of the Tutor/Stuart age in order to provide a window into the mental life and the most profound beliefs of people of the time.$bThis fascinating book explores the cultural and social significance of dreams and dreaming during the Tudor/Stuart age. Carole Levin looks at ideas about dreams, actual dreams people had and recorded, and the many ways dreams intersected with contemporary culture and politics in order to provide a window into the mental life and the most profound beliefs of people of the time Dreaming the English Renaissance examines ideas about dreams, actual dreams people had and recorded, and the many ways dreams were used in the culture and politics of the Tutor/Stuart age in order to provide a window into the mental life and the most profound beliefs of people of the time. This fascinating book explores the cultural and social significance of dreams and dreaming during the Tudor/Stuart age. Carole Levin looks at ideas about dreams, actual dreams people had and recorded, and the many ways dreams intersected with contemporary culture and politics in order to provide a window into the mental life and the most profound beliefs of people of the time "Dreaming the English Renaissance is cultural history at its very best, providing unusual access into the hopes and fears of early modern men and women. A deeply rewarding read for anyone interested in the turbulent social, political, and religious world of Tudor and Stuart England."--James Shapiro, Columbia University "How often is a deeply researched, densely scholarly book also a page-turner? Carole Levin's mesmerizing account begins with Richard Haydock, the 'sleeping preacher' at the court of King James. Haydock analogized dreams to 'a stone cast into the water, from which arises presently a circle, which instantly begets another, and yet a third.' Just so, historical import and new understandings ripple from the remarkable dreams, nightmares, premonitions, and visions Levin has rediscovered. Her careful analysis of unconventional sources gives us a Renaissance that is at once more wonderfully strange and more intimately knowable than we have ever had before. - Lena Cowen Orlin, Georgetown University Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Introduction....Pages 1-8 1605, the Year of Three Dreams....Pages 9-32 Theorists and Practitioners: Dreaming about the Living and the Dead....Pages 33-60 Religion and Witchcraft....Pages 61-91 Sexuality, Power, and Dreams of a New Dynasty....Pages 93-126 Sacred Blood and Monarchy....Pages 127-158 Afterword....Pages 159-160 Back Matter....Pages 161-210