Description
Book SynopsisValerie Forman contends that three seemingly unrelated domains-new economic theories and practices; the discourses of Christian redemption; and the rise of tragicomedy as the stage's most popular genre-were together crucial to the formulation of a new and paradoxical way of thinking about loss and profit in relationship to one another.
Trade Review"With a firm grounding in economic history, Valerie Forman traces a fascinating connection between evolving views about international trade, the religious discourse of Christian redemption . . . and the evolution of the period's most popular dramatic genre: tragicomedy." *
Parergon *
"Valerie Forman's study of global economics and the early modern stage proves a richly complex undertaking as she meshes economic practice, Christian narratives of loss and redemption, and tragicomedy. Taking early modern economic studies as a starting point, Forman demonstrates how the critical shortage of coin in the early part of the seventeenth century created immediate loss which would be redeemed when ships returned to port and profit was realized through resale of acquired goods. Forman links this narrative to the fall of human kind, which through Christ's intervention is redeemed." *
Sixteenth Century Journal *
