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196/252 Shakespeare's Italy: Function of Italian Locations in Renaissance Drama Edited by Michele Marrapodi, A.J. Hoenselaars, Marcello Cappuzzo and L. Falzon Santucci Manchester University Press, 1993, x+324 pp., ISBN 0-7190-4089-2, L35
This collection of 17 essays explores the function of the Italian element in English Renaissance drama moving wider than Shakespeare as a focus. Interestingly, 11 of the contributions come from English Departments of European Universities. Six of the contributions have previously graced the world either as conference papers or in published form. The book is divided into four sections: images and culture; themes and tradition; Venice: spectacle and polls, language and ideology Each section consists of four contributions, the volume ending with an afterword. The provision of a ten-page bibliography of secondary sources and a detailed index complete the volume. Having read the book from cover to cover my impression is that this is not the main strength of the work. It is a work to be sampled at appropriate points to pick up information either on particular aspects of the Italian influence or for details and interpretations of that influence in specific plays.
In reviewing the book,...