England's Elizabeth: An Afterlife in Fame and Fantasy [Paperback]

Michael Dobson (Author), Nicola J. Watson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 2004

No monarch is more glamorous or more controversial than Elizabeth I. The stories by which successive generations have sought to extol, explain, or excoriate Elizabeth supply a rich index to the cultural history of English nationalism--whether they represent her as Anne Boleyn's suffering orphan or as the implacable nemesis of Mary, Queen of Scots, as learned stateswoman or as frustrated lover, persecuted princess or triumphant warrior queen. This book examines the many afterlives the Virgin Queen has lived in drama, poetry, fiction, painting, propaganda, and the cinema over the four centuries since her death, from the aspiringly epic to the frankly kitsch. Exploring the Elizabeths of Shakespeare and Spenser, of Sophia Lee and Sir Walter Scott, of Bette Davis and of Glenda Jackson, of Shakespeare in Love and Blackadder II, this is a lively, lavishly-illustrated investigation of England's perennial fascination with a queen who is still engaged in a posthumous progress through the collective psyche of her country.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Extremely readable...the book is filled with fascinating illustrations ranging from the glorious to the maudlin.... The books wears its profound learning lightly, and provides a fascinating object lesson in the various ways the present attempts to remake the past."--Studies in English Literature 1500-1900

"Their book is an excellent example of a distinctly modern (indeed post modern) genre of biographical writing Dobson and Watson are balanced and incisive."--Jonathan Bate, Sunday Telegraph

"A scholarly, wide-ranging, lively and often witty book."--London Review of Books

"England's Elizabeth dazzles."--The Independent

"Dobson and Watson provide a lively, panoramic survey of the portrayal of Elizabeth I in drama, literature, history, and film from her death to the present.... Accessible and rewarding.... Essential."--Choice

"Dobson and Watson range through everything from dolls to advertising in an enjoyably unsolemn survey of everything that still reminds us of England's Virgin Queen."--The Scotsman

About the Author

Michael Dobson is Professor of Renaissance Drama, University of Surrey, Roehampton. He is the author of The Making of the National Poet (OUP, 1992) and co-editor of The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (OUP, 2001).

Nicola J. Watson is a Senior Lecturer at the Open University. She is the author of Revolution and the Form of the British Novel, 1790-1825 (OUP, 1994).

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (August 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019926919X
• ISBN-13: 978-0199269198
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,491,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gloriana in all her posthumous glory!, March 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: England's Elizabeth: An Afterlife in Fame and Fantasy (Hardcover)

This is a dazzling piece of cultural history about all the things people have wanted to be true about Elizabeth I whether they are or not, with fantastic pictures drawn from the plays and novels and movies in which her endlessly glamorous afterlife has been lived. It's a great book about why this enigmatic, dangerous woman matters and has mattered: it's funny, it's heartfelt, and it's scholarly too. Perfect for the thinking Glenda Jackson/Bette Davis/Cate Blanchett fan in your life, and a penetrating, witty meditation on fame, womanhood, and history.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just Elizabeth but why she matters, January 15, 2005

By 

Dirk Buzzard - See all my reviews

This review is from: England's Elizabeth: An Afterlife in Fame and Fantasy (Hardcover)

Anne Barton, an emerita Cambridge, England professor of literature and history, called this book 'scholarly, wide-ranging, lively and witty', and she doesn't give out praise lightly: she also described it as 'a fascinating cultural history of England itself in terms of its obsession with Anne Boleyn's resilient daughter.' This was in the London Review of Books, which rarely gets that sort of thing wrong, so I bought it. And she was dead right. This is a stunning book -- broadens your whole sense of history. And such a joy and a stimulant to read. I can't think how they'll ever follow it, but thank goodness they wrote it.