Courtly Letters in the Age of Henry VIII : Literary Culture and the Arts of Deceit

Author / Editor
Lerer, Seth.

Title
Courtly Letters in the Age of Henry VIII : Literary Culture and the Arts of Deceit

Published
Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Physical Description
xiv, 252 pp.

Series
Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture, no. 18.

Description
Assesses various aspects of Tudor political and literary culture (e.g., privacy and voyeurism, theatricality, letter-writing and -reading), discussing Pandarus and the Renaissance reception of TC as tropes for understanding such concerns. Tudor literary subjectivity existed at the intersection of courtly power and intrigue, sexuality, and inward awareness--all qualities associated with Pandarus, who fascinated Tudor readers. Lerer discusses the "Pandaric" features of commonplace books (Devonshire manuscript and Humphrey Wellys), Henry VIII's letters to Anne Boleyn, court reports of Luiz Carroz (Spanish ambassador), and poetry by Stephen Hawes, John Skelton, and Thomas Wyatt.

Chaucer Subjects
Chaucer's Influence and Later Allusion .
Troilus and Criseyde.