| HR-50526-10 | Research Programs: Faculty Research Awards | Marissa Greenberg | Metropolitan Tragedy, 1567-1667 | 9/1/2010 - 8/31/2011 | $50,400.00 | Marissa | | Greenberg | | | | Regents of the University of New Mexico | Albuquerque | NM | 87131-0001 | USA | 2009 | Renaissance Studies | Faculty Research Awards | Research Programs | 50400 | 0 | 50400 | 0 |
Although many scholars have examined London as the subject and setting of early modern English drama, no satisfactory account has been made of the extent to which urban upheaval shaped the theory and practice of tragedy. My project analyzes how writers from Shakespeare to Milton understood the capacity of tragic drama to make sense of real-life tragedy in England's capital city. In order to reconstruct the experience of early modern London, I survey maps, plans, and views, as well as descriptive accounts of London's topography, history, and municipal activities. Developing a transhistorical approach to literary form, I locate early modern tragic drama in its immediate urban context as well as examine its ancient roots and its modern-day relevance. This project has significant implications for current debates about the responsibility of tragic art to actual suffering, as our era, like early modern England, remakes tragedy in light of recent urban catastrophes. |