Sir Philip Sidney: the Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia

Modern readers mostly know Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia in its complete 'old' version, but it is the New Arcadia (published in 1590), a revised version of his pastoral romance The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, that was the most influential and most widely imitated literary text of the sixteenth century. Preserving the basic plot, New Arcadia adds further narrative strands and introduces ambitious revisions, demonstrating Sidney's brilliance as a prose writer.This edition of the New Arcadia is the first in nearly four decades, preserving the text of Victor Skretkowicz' celebrated 1987 edition, whilst making the text accessible through modern spelling and supplementing it with a substantially expanded scholarly commentary, an updated glossary, and additional long notes on the book's history and Sidney's use of rhetorical devices, as well as his contributions to the English language.

Auteur

J.B. Lethbridge is Lecturer in English at Tübingen University

J. B. Lethbridge is Lecturer in English Literature at Tübingen University

Texte du rabat

When Sir Philip Sidney died in 1586, he was widely believed to have been one of the greatest English writers - despite the fact that most of his contemporaries had never read any of his works, which had only circulated in manuscript. This changed in 1590, with the publication of the New Arcadia - the revised version of his pastoral romance The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, which introduced him to a broader audience and served to confirm his reputation as a brilliant stylist in prose as well as in verse.
Doubtless part of the New Arcadia's appeal consisted - and still consists - in the plot it largely shares with the Old Arcadia, involving shipwrecked princes going to great lengths to woo princesses who are jealously (if unsuccessfully) guarded by an overprotective father and a foolish shepherd, heroic and mock-heroic battles, various forms of intrigue, and rather a lot of poetry. But it was probably the features that set it apart from its Old cousin that accounted for the New Arcadia's popularity: its elaborate, beautifully crafted style, which prompted numerous imitators, and its revisions to the narrative that deliberately sacrifice linearity for a heightened sense of drama.
This edition of the New Arcadia is the first in nearly four decades. It preserves the text of Victor Skretkowicz' celebrated 1987 edition, while supplementing it with a substantially expanded scholarly commentary, an updated glossary, and additional long notes on the book's history in print and Sidney's use of rhetorical devices.