This book brings together new essays by leading cultural critics who have been influenced by the groundbreaking scholarship of Richard Helgerson. The original essays penned for this anthology evince the ongoing impact of Helgersons work in major critical debates including national identity, literary careerism, and studies of form. Analyzing not only early modern but also medieval literary texts, the pieces that comprise Essays in Memory of Richard Helgerson: Laureations respond to both Helgersons more famous scholarly works and the whole range of his critical corpus, from his earliest work on prodigality to his latest writings on mid-sixteenth century European poets. The interdisciplinary, transnational, and comparativist spirit of Helgersons criticism is reflected in the essays, as is his commitment to studies of multiple genres that nevertheless attend to the particularities of form. Contributors offer new interpretations of several of Shakespeares playsHamlet, I Henry IV, The Tempest, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra, King Learand other dramas such as Beaumonts The Knight of the Burning Pestle, the anonymous drama The London Prodigal, and Stephen Greenblatt and John Mees contemporary play Cardenio. In keeping with Helgersons comparativist turn, the volume includes analyses of Joachim Du Bellays poetry and Donato Gianottis discussion of The Divine Comedy. Prose works featured in the volume encompass Mores Utopia and Isaac Waltons The Compleat Angler. Spensers early poetry and the medieval romance Floris and Blanchflour also receive new readings.
