Scott Newstok, How to Think like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education

Abstract

found in the other parts is here strained by the diversity of the articles. Despite the evident clash, the authors themselves manage to write competent pieces about less prominent authors. For example, Mathilde Bernard presents a straightforward reading on myth and fable in the works of Guillaume Guéroult, though the analysis could benefit from further distinction of Calvin’s and the Huguenots’ views. Matthieu de La Gorge’s essay on Pierre Viret’s view of Greco-Roman myth as biblical plagiarism surprises. Padraic Lamb examines Anglican minister Stephan Batman, but settles this sudden geographic displacement with clarification of Reformist attitudes and anti-Catholic sentiment in England vis-à-vis Continental discourse. In the final two essays, Inès Kirschleger and Christabelle Thouin-Dieuaide discuss Calvinist influences in the earlier part of the seventeenth century. Part 5 addresses the overarching question, and the essays ultimately demonstrate authors’ often paradoxical solutions in a religious discourse that shifts through the decades. Nadia Cernogora and Gilles Couffignal discover an intentional distancing from Ronsardian poetics in the second half of the sixteenth century. Audrey Duru shows that for André Mage, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, fable can cautiously serve as an experience that leads to a spiritual rebirth. In Adrienne Petit’s study, Antoine de Nervèze, a Catholic, and Nicolas Des Escuteaux, a Protestant, exemplify another shift in religious discourse. Overall, this collection of conference essays reads as a cohesive discussion, with the minor exception of a few moments in part 4. The fact that this part stands out further demonstrates the overall cohesion of the collection. For this reason, this anthology’s strengths lie in the cyclical and focused presentation, and in the ways various contributors engage discursively.