Renaissance Go-Betweens: Cultural Exchange in Early Modern Europe (spectrum Literaturwissenschaft / spectrum Literature Book 2)

The volume analyses some of the travelling and bridge-building activities that went on in Renaissance Europe, mainly but not exclusively across the Channel, true to Montaigne's epoch-making program of describing 'the passage'. Its emphasis on Anglo-Continental relations ensures a firm basis in English literature, but its particular appeal lies in its European point of view, and in the perspectives it opens up into other areas of early modern culture, such as pictorial art, philosophy, and economics. The multiple implications of the go-between concept make for structured diversity. The chapters of this book are arranged in three stages. Part 1 ('Mediators') focuses on influential go-betweens, both as groups, like the translators, and as individual mediators. The second part of this book ('Mediations') is concerned with individual acts of mediation, and with the 'mental topographies' they presuppose, reflect and redraw in their turn. Part 3 ('Representations') looks at the role of exemplary intermediaries and the workings of mediation represented on the early modern English stage. Key features High quality anthology on phenomena of cultural exchange in the Renaissance era With contributions by outstanding international experts The Renaissance translator as go-between / Peter Burke Inglese italianato-Italiano anglizzato : John Florio / Manfred Pfister Ash Wednesday in Westminster : Giordano Bruno meets Elizabethan England / Werner von Koppenfels De Witt, van Buchell, the wooden O, and the yellow M / Paul Frassen John Dee as cultural, scientific, apocalyptic go-between / György E. Szönyi John Wolfe and the impact of exemplary go-betweens on early modern print culture / Sonia Massai Hybrids : learning from a gilded silver beaker (Antwerp, c. 1530) / Carlo Ginzburg British cultural history and church history for the continent : John Bale's Summarium (1548) and Catalogus (1557-59) / Herbert Grabes Machiavellian dissimulation and allegory : the writings of Roger Ascham and Sir Philip Sidney / John Roe Moses as go-between : John Spencer's theory of religious translation / Jan Assmann Another country : Marlowe and the go-between / Richard Wilson Spirits, ghosts, demons in Shakespeare and Milton / Aleida Assmann A membrane has broken : returning from the dead in The Spanish tragedy / Alexander Leggatt The words of Mercury : Shakespeare's love ambassadors / François Laroque Incising Venice : the violence of cultural incorporation in The merchant of Venice / Philippa Berry Iago the essayist : Florio between Montaigne and Shakespeare / Catherine Belsey. The volume analyses some of the travelling and bridge-building activities that went on in Renaissance Europe, mainly but not exclusively across the Channel, true to Montaigne's epoch-making program of describing `the passage'. Its emphasis on Anglo-Continental relations ensures a firm basis in English literature, but its particular appeal lies in its European point of view, and in the perspectives it opens up into other areas of early modern culture, such as pictorial art, philosophy, and economics. The multiple implications of the go-between concept make for structured diversity. The chapters of this book are arranged in three stages. Part 1 (`Mediators') focuses on influential go-betweens, both as groups, like the translators, and as individual mediators. The second part of this book (`Mediations') is concerned with individual acts of mediation, and with the `mental topographies' they presuppose, reflect and redraw in their turn. Part 3 (`Representations') looks at the role of exemplary intermediaries and the workings of mediation represented on the early modern English stage. Key features High quality anthology on phenomena of cultural exchange in the Renaissance era With contributions of outstanding international experts. 1. Introduction I. Mediators 2. The Renaissance Translator as Go-Between 3. Inglese Italianato – Italiano Anglizzato: John Florio 4. Ash Wednesday in Westminster: Giordano Bruno meets Elizabethan England 5. De Witt, van Buchell, the Wooden O, and the Yellow M 6. John Dee as Cultural, Scientific, Apocalyptic Go-Between 7. John Wolfe and the Impact of Exemplary Go-Betweens on Early Modern Print Culture II. Mediations 8. Hybrids: Learning from a Gilded Silver Beaker (Antwerp, c. 1530) 9. British Cultural History and Church History for the Continent: John Bale’s Summarium (1548) and Catalogus (1557–59) 10. Machiavellian Dissimulation and Allegory: The Writings of Roger Ascham and Sir Philip Sidney 11. Moses as Go-Between: John Spencer’s Theory of Religious Translation III. Representations 12. Another Country: Marlowe and the Go-Between 13. Spirits, Ghosts, Demons in Shakespeare and Milton 14. ‘A membrane has broken’: Returning from the Dead in The Spanish Tragedy 15. ‘The Words of Mercury’: Shakespeare’s Love Ambassadors 16. Incising Venice: the Violence of Cultural Incorporation in The Merchant of Venice 17. Iago the Essayist: Florio between Montaigne and Shakespeare Index Notes on Contributors Der durchgehend englischsprachige Sammelband versammelt Beiträge international renommierter Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaftler (u. a. von Peter Burke, Carlo Ginzburg, Jan und Aleida Assmann), die sich mit dem Phänomen des Kulturtransfers in der europäischen Renaissance-Literatur befassen. U. a. werden Übersetzungen und Übersetzungsprozesse sowie Phänomene der Intertextualität und der literarischen Rezeption europäischer Philosophen diskutiert. In allen Beiträgen geht es um Regeln, Motive und Folgen des Kulturaustausches. Durch eine umfangreiche grundsätzliche Einführung und ein Register bietet der Band eine homogene Gesamtdarstellung des Gegenstandes. Der Band ist untergliedert in die Kapitel "Mediators. Routes of Exchange", "Mediations. Mental Topographies" und "Representations. Staging the Go-Between" One important characteristic of the Renaissance, according to Mikhail Bak-htin, was what he called - in English translation, of course - the 'interanimation' of languages, in other words a sharper consciousness of the differences between languages, linked to increasing linguistic inventiveness and playfulness.