Bøker av Bill Angus

In Shakespeare's Britain rivers were not only a crucial form of travel and important natural resources which sustained communities and provided employment but were also sites to which myths and memories accrued and which could be used to figure religious ideas of cleansing and the waters of life. Pageants were performed on them, legends grew up about their names and led to plays and poems being written about personified river gods and goddesses, and stories were told of historic battles which had been fought on their banks. These essays explore the cultural and literary geography of rivers in the early modern period and the ways in which they shaped the lives and identities of those who lived near them. By charting changes (both manmade and natural) to the way in which rivers ebb and flow the book also reminds us of the urgency of the climate crisis.

This book explores some of the many instances of poisoning in early modern plays. It considers the practical, legal and epistemological aspects of poison plays and analyses the cultural work they perform, which includes questions related to race, religion, nationality, gender and humans' relationship to the environment.

This study explores the disturbing intrinsic connections between authors, informers, and authorities found in a wide selection of early modern metadrama.

Have you ever wondered what was really going on in the inner-plays, secret overhearing, and tacit observations of early modern drama? Taking on the shadowy figure of the early modern informer, this book argues that far more than mere artistic experimentation is happening here.