Fictions of Embassy: Literature and Diplomacy in Early Modern Europe
The first full-scale study of the cultural implications of the rise of modern diplomacy. Through discussions of a wide range of literary and political texts from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, this book studies the relationship between literary representation and diplomatic practice. Arguing that literary representation and diplomatic representation are closely intertwined in the early modern period, the book studies such issues as the link between diplomatic action and rhetoric, literary genre and diplomatic space, the topic of recognition in tragedy and politics, and the relationship of the actor and the ambassador. Studies of Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Tasso, Gentili, Corneille, Racine, Camões and Stendhal, among others. (Cornell University Press, 2010).
Paperback edition scheduled for release in fall 2012.
"This is a splendid innovative book that significantly complicates and enriches our understanding of a period in which much innovation was indeed taking place in politics, culture, and literature-a book full of exciting twists and turns, original, challenging observations about canonical authors, and impressive depth and breadth."-Renaissance Quarterly