The era in which Shakespeare lived and worked – the late 16th century and the early 17th – was an extraordinarily rich period in cultural terms. This is intended as a series of posts about the various cultural, artistic and literary activities of that era.
The focus of this series will primarily be in the 1590s and the 1600s, but will also cover works from earlier that had had an influence on Shakespeare (hence the inclusion of Montaigne), and also works from later years that throw interesting light retrospectively on Shakespeare’s cultural world.
All posts in this series will be listed here, with links.
“Caravaggio: A Life” by Helen Langdon
“The Spanish Tragedy” by Thomas Kyd
“Bartholomew Fair” by Ben Jonson
“‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore” by John Ford
“The White Devil” by John Webster
“The Duchess of Malfi” by John Webster
The Argumentative Old Git 