A Continuation Of Sir Philip Sidney S Arcadia

Anna Weamys's A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia is a woman's contribution to one of the dominant genres of her sex's readership in the seventeenth century: the heroic romance. Part of the considerable power and appeal of this work is its reduction of the heroic romance to a smaller scale. In its shorter length and its comparatively direct style, it avoids the fustian and bloat of the form. At the same time, it elaborates on the genre's stronger points--its playfulness and fantasy, its explorations of the nuances of sensibility--while not sacrificing its capacity for political statement. Weamys's Arcadia is an interesting and accessible story that, while it pairs well with Sidney, can stand on its own or be paired with other writers of romance like Shakespeare or Spenser. The first appearance of the text since the seventeenth century, this volume includes both a modernized and an old-spelling edition of the text.

Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia has held a significant place in literary imagination since its inception over 430 years ago. Our four-volume set presents five re-imaginings of the text, as well as two short supplements that attempt to bridge the gap between Sidney's original and revised versions of the work.