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42 Postcolonial Spenser
Get accessAndrew Hadfield is Professor of English at the University of Sussex, Visiting Professor at the University of Granada, and Founding Director of the Centre for Early Modern Studies at Sussex. He is the author of a number of works on early modern literature, including Shakespeare and Republicanism (Cambridge University Press, 2005; paperback, 2008); Literature, Travel and Colonialism in the English Renaissance, 1540–1625 (Oxford University Press, 1998; paperback, 2007); Spenser's Irish Experience: Wilde Fruyt and Salvage Soyl (Oxford University Press, 1997); and Literature, Politics and National Identity: Reformation to Renaissance (Cambridge University Press, 1994). He has also edited, with Matthew Dimmock, Religions of the Book: Co-existence and Conflict, 1400–1660 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008); with Raymond Gillespie, The Oxford History of the Irish Book, Vol. III: The Irish Book in English, 1550–1800 (Oxford University Press, 2006); and with Paul Hammond, Shakespeare and Renaissance Europe (Cengage, Arden Critical Companions, 2004); and Literature and Censorship in Renaissance England (Palgrave Macmillan, 2001). He was editor of Renaissance Studies (2006–11) and is a regular reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement.
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Published:18 September 2012
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Abstract
This article focuses on postcolonial criticism of Spenser. Spenser occupies a particular position as an especially wicked writer, because he, more than any of his illustrious contemporaries, actually was a colonist. His canon inspires a peculiar bewilderment which has led to an ambiguous, often confused attitude to his work and legacy. On the one hand, Spenser's work reflects an ideological hegemony that has developed from the need to justify the English presence in Ireland, something that has become ‘ingrained’ as part of the grubby intellectual furniture. On the other, Spenser can be seen as the originator of a discourse, a preeminent English poet whose writings were read and recycled and whose attitudes helped to expedite centuries of colonial rule in Ireland.
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