Summer S Last Will And Testament

This early work by Thomas Nashe was originally published in 1600 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'Summer's Last Will and Testament' is an Elizabethan era stage play that broke new ground in the development of English Renaissance drama. Thomas Nashe was born in November 1567. He was an English Elizabethan Pamphleteer, playwright, poet and satirist, but little is known with certainty about his life. Much of the information we have has been inferred from his writings. Nashe's first appearance in print was his preface to Robert Greene's Menaphon (1589), in which he offers a brief definition of art and an overview of contemporary literature. His early exercise in euphuism The Anatomy of Absurdity was published in the same year. From then on Nashe became involved in numerous political and religious causes, including the Martin Marprelate controversy where he sided with the bishops. Nashe offers an important insight into the workings of 16th century English life and his writings will continue to be studied for both their literary content and historical relevance.

First established as a «festive comedy» in the same tradition as many of Shakespeare's early comedies, C.L. Barber's pioneer analysis in Shakespeare's Festive Comedy (Princetion, 1959) attracted attention to Nashe's only play. Performed before the Archbishop of Canterbury and his entourage at Croydon Castle in 1592, Summer's Last Will and Testament is an innovative blend of allegorical pageant, satire, farce, and morality play. Nashe of course is better known for the racy, pungent style of his prose works, The Unfortunate Traveller (1594) and Pierce Penniless (1592). This modern-spelling edition provides a fresh collation of all eighteen extant copies of the copy-text, the 1600 quarto, as well as an historical collation. In addition, it provides a full critical introduction, glosses, and explanatory notes.

An indispensable biography for anyone interested in Constant Lambert, ballet and British musical life in the first part of the twentieth century.