Time's Purpled Masquers: Stars and the Afterlife in Renaissance English Literature
Worth buying if: You enjoy close readings of Shakespearean celestial imagery.
Skip it if: You want a broad textbook survey of Renaissance history rather than focused literary analysis.
Exact edition: Hardcover · ISBN-13 9780198183402. The Amazon link uses this ISBN, so the product page should open to the edition shown here.
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Summary
In Time's Purpled Masquers Fowler reads seventeenth-century poets and playwrights to show how celestial imagery and masquerade metaphors recast beliefs about souls, fate, and immortality across Shakespeare, Donne, and their contemporaries.
Why this book now
This Oxford reprint restores Fowler's concise readings of Renaissance cosmology and metaphor at a moment of renewed interest in early modern religion and literary form.
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Best for readers who...
Good fit if you want...
- You enjoy close readings of Shakespearean celestial imagery.
- You're studying John Donne, masque culture, or Renaissance afterlife metaphors.
- If atmosphere matters, the characters show feeling without grand gestures.
- You want a broad textbook survey of Renaissance history rather than focused literary analysis.
- You need a contemporary literary theory handbook rather than Fowler's mid-1990s criticism.
- You only want something with very current references and examples.
Decided it fits?
Exact edition: Hardcover · ISBN-13 9780198183402
Worth buying if: You enjoy close readings of Shakespearean celestial imagery.
Skip it if: You want a broad textbook survey of Renaissance history rather than focused literary analysis.
Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.
Reader guide
Cues to help you decide faster.
Reading commitment
Light Short sit-downs
At 171 pages, this compact Oxford on-demand edition is a focused short read suitable for an afternoon of concentrated study or a seminar week.
What stands out here
This Oxford Univ Pr on Demand printing preserves Fowler's original 1996 argument and examples, useful for courses on early modern religion, masques, and star imagery.
Best way to approach it
Read slowly and with passages of Donne and Shakespeare at hand: Fowler's chapter-length close readings reward line-by-line attention and cross-referencing.
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Hardcover: ISBN-13 9780198183402
Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.