Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review“[A] learned, intelligent, and interesting book. . . . [A] wide-ranging knowledge of Renaissance religious and political commentary and of current criticism is made available in a lucid and persuasive argument.” - Edward Pechter,
Journal of English and Germanic Philology“Kronenfeld’s achievement here is enormous, particularly in providing a necessary corrective to versions of historicism that seem Old in all but political slant.” - Andrew James Hartley,
Christianity and Literature“To read [this] book . . . is to encounter a mind capable of tackling the most sophisticated of historical and theoretical topics with both grace and reason. Kronenfeld takes us on a tour both of history and of Shakespeare’s text in a way that finally leaves each seeming at once extremely complex but also much more readily comprehensible. She manages the difficult feat of clarifying without simplifying, and for that reason alone her book is well worth the attention of any serious student of
Lear, Shakespeare, the Renaissance, and literary theory.” -
Ben Jonson Journal“
King Lear and the Naked Truth is richly researched, deeply learned, and largely achieves what it sets out to do. This is an important study from which all readers will learn.” - Ronald Knowles,
Renaissance Quarterly“Judy Kronenfeld’s book on political criticism and
King Lear makes some important points and provides a rich florilegium of quotations from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century homiletic texts (along with an excellent bibliography). It is a book anyone doing sociohistorical or political criticism of Shakespeare, or of any Elizabethan or Jacobean texts, should take seriously.” - Richard Strier,
Shakespeare Quarterly“Kronenfeld’s painstaking reconstruction of English Reformed thought on subjects such as charity, rank, and the family deserves a wide audience. . . . Her thoughtful and challenging critique of new historical readings of
Lear also merits consideration.” - Kenneth J. E. Graham,
Modern Philology"This is a most impressive book, one that is sure to have an impact, raise questions, and create controversy."—Herbert Lindenberger, Stanford University
“
King Lear and the Naked Truth is richly researched, deeply learned, and largely achieves what it sets out to do. This is an important study from which all readers will learn.” -- Ronald Knowles * Renaissance Quarterly *
“[A] learned, intelligent, and interesting book. . . . [A] wide-ranging knowledge of Renaissance religious and political commentary and of current criticism is made available in a lucid and persuasive argument.” -- Edward Pechter * Journal of English and Germanic Philology *
“Judy Kronenfeld’s book on political criticism and
King Lear makes some important points and provides a rich florilegium of quotations from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century homiletic texts (along with an excellent bibliography). It is a book anyone doing sociohistorical or political criticism of Shakespeare, or of any Elizabethan or Jacobean texts, should take seriously.” -- Richard Strier * Shakespeare Quarterly *
“Kronenfeld’s achievement here is enormous, particularly in providing a necessary corrective to versions of historicism that seem Old in all but political slant.” -- Andrew James Hartley * Christianity and Literature *
“Kronenfeld’s painstaking reconstruction of English Reformed thought on subjects such as charity, rank, and the family deserves a wide audience. . . . Her thoughtful and challenging critique of new historical readings of
Lear also merits consideration.” -- Kenneth J. E. Graham * Modern Philology *
“To read [this] book . . . is to encounter a mind capable of tackling the most sophisticated of historical and theoretical topics with both grace and reason. Kronenfeld takes us on a tour both of history and of Shakespeare’s text in a way that finally leaves each seeming at once extremely complex but also much more readily comprehensible. She manages the difficult feat of clarifying without simplifying, and for that reason alone her book is well worth the attention of any serious student of
Lear, Shakespeare, the Renaissance, and literary theory.” * Ben Jonson Journal *
