Research Catalog

Title

Sexuality and citizenship : metamorphosis in Elizabethan erotic verse / Jim Ellis.

Author

Ellis, Jim, 1964-

Publication

Toronto ; Buffalo : University of Toronto Press, ©2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 292 pages; 24 cm

Summary

"Based for the most part on Ovid's Metamorphoses, epyllia retell stories of the dalliances of gods and mortals, most often concerning the transformation of beautiful youths. This short-lived genre flourished and died in England in the 1590s. Epyllia were produced mainly by and for the young men of the Inns of Court, where the ambitious came to study law and to sample the pleasures London had to offer. Jim Ellis provides detailed readings of fifteen examples of the epyllion, considering the poems in their cultural milieu and arguing that these myths of the transformations of young men are at the same time stories of sexual, social, and political metamorphoses." "Examining both the most famous (Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis and Marlowe's Hero and Leander) and some of the more obscure examples of the genre (Hiren, the Fair Greek and The Metamorphosis of Tobacco), Ellis moves from considering fantasies of selfhood, through erotic relations with others, to literary affiliation, political relations, and finally to international issues such as exploration, settlement, and trade. Offering a revisionist account of the genre of the epyllion, Ellis transforms theories of sexuality, literature, and politics of the Elizabethan age, making an erudite and intriguing contribution to the field."--Jacket.

Subject

• Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 A.D. or 18 A.D. > Appreciation > England
• Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 A.D. or 18 A.D
• Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 A.D. or 18 A.D. > Influence
• Ovidius Naso, Publius, 43 f.Kr.-17 e.Kr > analys och tolkning
• Metamorphoses (Ovid)
• 1500-1700
• English poetry > Early modern, 1500-1700 > History and criticism
• Sex in literature
• Erotic poetry, English > History and criticism
• English poetry > Roman influences
• Metamorphosis in literature
• Citizenship in literature
• Young men in literature
• Literary studies: 16th to 18th centuries > c 1500 to c 1600 > England
• Poetry & poets > c 1500 to c 1600 > England
• Art appreciation
• Citizenship in literature
• English poetry > Early modern
• English poetry > Roman influences
• Erotic poetry, English
• Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.)
• Metamorphosis in literature
• Sex in literature
• Young men in literature
• England

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Note

• Based on the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of York, Toronto.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [267]-284) and index.

Contents

Introduction: Heterosexuality and Citizenship in the Elizabethan Epyllion -- The Metamorphosis of the Subject -- 'Bold sharpe Sophister[s]': Rhetoric and Education -- 'More lovely than a man': The Metamorphosis of the Youth -- 'Yon's one Italionate': Sodomy and Literary History -- 'The Thracian fields and company of men': The Erotics of Political Fraternity -- 'Riot, revelling and rapes': Sexual Violence and the Nation -- Conclusion: Nymphs and Tobacconalias.

ISBN

• 0802087353
• 9780802087355
• 9786611996543
• 6611996540

LCCN

2004297845

OCLC

• ocm51495602
• 51495602
• SCSB-1310033

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library