Dear List--
Andrew Hadfield and I have signed a contract to do a fourth edition of the
Norton Critical Edition of Spenser and we seek your opinion on what
Spenserian texts we might drop or add. Just TEXTS, not criticism (see
below). Norton says that we are at the outside page limit so if we add we
must also drop. If we add Virgil's Gnat, for example, we must drop the
Bower of Bliss. Well, that's silly but you get the idea. We were thinking
of dropping *Colin Clouts Come Home Again*, which for all its interest we
do not think is much taught, and adding *Mother Hubberds Tale* because of
its relevance to, among other topics, Renaissance anti-court satire, fable
and allegory, and (even if the evidence is read cautiously) censorship. We
might also add the *Ruines of Rome* because the text is brief and enables
conversation on both *translation* and *translatio* as well as on the
importance of ancient Rome--and by implication papal Rome--to early modern
England. Are there other deletions and additions you would like? Feel free
to write us off-list.Andrew's e-mail is
[log in to unmask] Any thoughts would be welcome.
We BEG you to send suggestions, if you have them, for dropping or adding
critical essays ONLY off-list for obvious reasons of tact and prudence.
Thanks for any thoughts, on- or off-list. Andrew H. and Anne P.
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