Other Literary Forms
John Lyly continues, unfortunately, to be most remembered for his early prose works, Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit (1578) and Euphues and His England (1580). These works uneasily combine the values of moralistic Humanism with the erotic subject matter and psychological potential of the Italian novella; these two elements are overlaid and indeed overwhelmed by the famous style, subsequently labeled “euphuism.” Both Lyly’s own contemporaries and scholars have also assigned Lyly the authorship of Pap with an Hatchet (1589), a turgid religious tract published anonymously in the course of the Martin Marprelate controversy.
Achievements
Twentieth century readings have led to recognition of John Lyly as more than a quaint writer. Since the initial work of Jonas Barish in 1956, Lyly’s prose style has been more highly (though still variously) valued, and both Barish and, in 1962, G. K. Hunter helped to enhance appreciation of Lyly’s plays. Lyly has been served by the freeing of Elizabethan drama criticism in modern times from its earlier compulsion to consider its material in the light of William Shakespeare . Lyly can be seen now as, at his best, a highly intelligent writer of comic psychological and philosophical allegory. He is important not merely for his historical position or for his constructive skill but also for his insight—which is part of the general Renaissance insight into human personality, informed by the newly experienced classics, often expressed in a symbolic rather than a purely realistic mode.
Bibliography
Alwes, Derek B. “‘I Would Faine Serve’: John Lyly’s Career at Court.” Comparative Drama 34, no. 4 (Winter, 2000): 399-421. Alwes examines Lyly’s dramatic works to see how they reflect on Lyly’s career at court, especially how he portrays his relationship to Queen Elizabeth.
Fienberg, Nona. Elizabeth, Her Poets, and the Creation of the Courtly Manner: A Study of Sir John Harington, Sir Philip Sydney, and John Lyly. New York: Garland, 1988. An examination of Queen Elizabeth’s relationship with several writers, including Lyly, and of British drama and poetry during her reign. Bibliography and index.
Hueppert, Joseph W. John Lyly. Boston: Twayne, 1975. This general review of Lyly’s career contains a brief discussion of euphuism and the prose period preceding dramatic involvement. The plays are analyzed as belonging to Lyly’s early, middle, or late periods of development, and the scholarship is organized into negative and positive sections. Concludes with comments on Lyly’s critical reputation and influence.
Messora, Noemi. “Parallels Between English and Italian Courtly Plays in the Sixteenth Century: Carlo Turco and John Lyly.” Theater of the English and Italian Renaissance, edited by J. R. Mulryne and Margaret Shewring. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991. Places Lyly in an international context.
Pincombe, Michael, ed. The Plays of John Lyly: Eros and Eliza. New York: Manchester University Press, 1996. Describes the dramatic works of Lyly and details his relations with Queen Elizabeth. Bibliography and index.
Saccio, Peter. The Court Comedies of John Lyly: A Study in Allegorical Dramaturgy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969. Contains an informative opening section on the staging requirements for plays presented at court. Analyzes several plays and includes an investigation of allegory and anagoge.
Scragg, Leah. The Metamorphosis of “Galathea”: A Study in Creative Adaptation. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1982. An analysis of Lyly’s Galathea, containing discussions of the play’s relationship with the works of William Shakespeare and its source, the Greek deity of Galatea.
Wilson, John Dover. John Lyly. 1907. Reprint. New York: Haskell House, 1970. This older work by a notable scholar is intentionally limited to historical rather than aesthetic criticism of Lyly. Wilson traces Lyly’s influence on English prose style, on the development of the novel of manners, and on English comedy. Considers Lyly’s influence and his “dynamical value” to be great.
Wixson, Christopher. “Cross-Dressing and John Lyly’s Galathea.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 41, no. 2 (Spring, 2001): 241-256. In his examination of cross-dressing in Lyly’s Galathea, Wixson stresses that the phenomenon must be interpreted within the culture in which it existed, rather than interpreted according to the biases of modern times.
See eNotes Ad-Free
Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts.
Already a member? Log in here.