Sex in Elizabethan England
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Product Description
Product Description
Approached through the literature and literary personalities of the period, this fascinating study examines sexual behaviour in the Elizabethan age. Although there is much we will never know, poets and playwrights can provide valuable insights into our ancestors' sexual lives. Here, with help from the work of figures such as Shakespeare, Marlowe and Donne, Alan Haynes builds up a vivid picture of of the sexual experiences of Elizabethans at all levels of society. We peep behind the bed curtains at the 'Virgin Queen' herself, who slept alone despite rumours that she was as sexually promiscuous as her mother, Anne Boleyn, and at characters such as Moll Cutpurse, a gutsy female transvestite who shocked and amused generations of Londoners in almost equal measure. The pressure of desire was profound and the author explores this to find compelling details. A unique behind the scenes study of the sex life of the Elizabethans, from courtiers to maids of honour and from citizens and their wives to drabs and pimps, this book will intrigue and fascinate anyone with an interest in the private lives of our forbears.
About the Author
Alan Haynes has also written The Elizabethan Secret Services and The Gunpowder Plot.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There is lots of research, focusing on available primary sources (mostly theatrical/pamphlets) with extensive quoting from secondary sources. Arranged in themes (court marriages, homosexuality, prostitution and so on).
What spoils the book is that it's not very clearly written--all too often I had to skip back sentences or paragraphs to decipher a sloppily used indefinite article or pick up the trail of a side topic. This is the sort of problem that a editor/publisher should have picked up and had the author fix in a early rewrite stage.
Also the source abbreviations are several pages away from the list of sources.
What spoils the book is that it's not very clearly written--all too often I had to skip back sentences or paragraphs to decipher a sloppily used indefinite article or pick up the trail of a side topic. This is the sort of problem that a editor/publisher should have picked up and had the author fix in a early rewrite stage.
Also the source abbreviations are several pages away from the list of sources.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Certainly this is a great example of judging a book by it's cover - the loud screamer SEX in the title is just misleading, obviously trying to attract a wider readership to what is a fairly dry approach to the subject.
The subject should be fascinating, but the (often somewhat convoluted and rather pompous) writing style makes it seem quite tedious. However, as I have only managed to read as far as chapter 4 in the several weeks since I bought it (it's almost as good as Nytol!) there is still plenty of time to improve.
It doesn't actually appear to be about sex (so far) - more a list of covert marriages that infuriated the Virgin Queen. I assume the reader has to infer what the moral attitude was from these examples or be already familiar with the period.
The preface was about Elizabethan beds which, while informative, was, I suppose, intended to be whimsical.
The author assumes that the reader already has pre-knowledge of the many (obscure to me) aristocrats he mentions, and their various marriages and ancestries. He sprinkles unattributed quotes throughout, too.
I'll carry on reading in the hope it gets more interesting, but I confess it's quite hard going for me.
****
I've now finished the book and while it did get a little more interesting as it plodded along my opinion hasn't changed much.
The subject should be fascinating, but the (often somewhat convoluted and rather pompous) writing style makes it seem quite tedious. However, as I have only managed to read as far as chapter 4 in the several weeks since I bought it (it's almost as good as Nytol!) there is still plenty of time to improve.
It doesn't actually appear to be about sex (so far) - more a list of covert marriages that infuriated the Virgin Queen. I assume the reader has to infer what the moral attitude was from these examples or be already familiar with the period.
The preface was about Elizabethan beds which, while informative, was, I suppose, intended to be whimsical.
The author assumes that the reader already has pre-knowledge of the many (obscure to me) aristocrats he mentions, and their various marriages and ancestries. He sprinkles unattributed quotes throughout, too.
I'll carry on reading in the hope it gets more interesting, but I confess it's quite hard going for me.
****
I've now finished the book and while it did get a little more interesting as it plodded along my opinion hasn't changed much.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Firstly this is a very entertaining read, so if you're looking for something fairly light that will keep the pages turning, this works admirably. However, Haynes takes a very literal view of Renaissance literature and translates poetry and plays as if they are autobiography and therefore completely true and realistic to life. In that sense, this lacks a sense of Renaissance thought about both gender and sexuality and re-writes a foreign thought-world as if it were our own.
That said, this doesn't pretend to be a scholarly or academic work so don't take it too seriously and enjoy what's there.
That said, this doesn't pretend to be a scholarly or academic work so don't take it too seriously and enjoy what's there.
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