Sidney's Arcadia

[Pecksie]

Hey everyone! I'm some 250 pages into Sidney's 'The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia'. Although I can't say it's a page-turner, I do enjoy the read (occasionally finding little gems) and the genuine sense of the Elizabethan worldview and thinking it affords. I've also found myself reading the song passages in full, instead of just skipping them as I thought I might. :wink5:

I'd like to have your thoughts on this, and also ---more generally--- on reading this kind of Renaissance prose work (I hesitate to call it a 'novel', knowing that it's a probable anachronism and that Sidney was working within a very different tradition). Are these works still read? I read someone's opinion that nobody did, except for specialists, but I'm not one and yet I was drawn to it... Even more, are they worth reading? What can we, in our extra sophisticated modern world, get from such a read? I definitely think that we should read these works, both for sheer pleasure and for understanding, but I'm sure there are many who disagree...

Any insights?

[LitNetIsGreat]

Yes of course these works are read and should be read. I would have thought though that for the likes of Sidney and other such Renaissance work, not including Shakespeare, that the market would be more for students and the like as opposed to general readership. I've read bits of this but not much, though I do have Sidney's collected works at home (I like his sonnet cycle Astrophil and Stella) and I will get round to reading it in full eventually when I'm not doing other stuff. I remember that there is some beautiful pastoral pieces from the Arcadia which alone for me would make it more than worth the read. I don't think that you will find many people (on here certainly) who would disagree with the claim that Sidney is worth reading.

[johnw1]

Yes of course these works are read and should be read. I would have thought though that for the likes of Sidney and other such Renaissance work, not including Shakespeare, that the market would be more for students and the like as opposed to general readership. I've read bits of this but not much, though I do have Sidney's collected works at home (I like his sonnet cycle Astrophil and Stella) and I will get round to reading it in full eventually when I'm not doing other stuff. I remember that there is some beautiful pastoral pieces from the Arcadia which alone for me would make it more than worth the read. I don't think that you will find many people (on here certainly) who would disagree with the claim that Sidney is worth reading.
I wouldn't necessarily disagree with the idea he's worth reading... But I wouldn't exactly recommend The Ardcadia either. The plot is a ridiculous farce - I know the same can be said for some of Shakespeare and Johnson's comedies but they are far wittier and don't outstay their welcome generally. This book is just so dense and the crazy goings on make it titillating for a while but that's all. That's just my opinion - obviously it was a highly popular work and significant in terms of literary/cultural history.

[OrphanPip]

I've only read the Apology for* Poetry and Astrophil and Stella, but I'm sure anything by Sidney is worth reading. Especially, if you're interested in Elizabethan writing.

I've read Spenser's Faerie Queene, The Shepherd's Calendar, Amoretti and Epithalamion, and some of the other poems. Much like Sidney, Spenser is rarely read outside of schools these days, but he's worth reading as well. I imagine this has to do with the fact that they write mostly in poetry, which isn't all that popular with the general populace these days anyway.

[Pecksie]

The plot is a ridiculous farce - I know the same can be said for some of Shakespeare and Johnson's comedies but they are far wittier and don't outstay their welcome generally. This book is just so dense and the crazy goings on make it titillating for a while but that's all.

Well that's one of the issues I thought might come up... There's this suspension of disbelief that is required of us, especially regarding the cross-dressing... Sidney asks us to believe in these men disguising themselves as women and having other men (and women) fall in love with them...

And I was indeed surprised at the frankness with which Sidney addresses the subject of sexual desire in these cases... for example, Philoclea and Gynecia falling in love with Zelmane (who is actually a man, but they don't know it and have thus, technically at least, fallen in love with another woman), etc. Anyone noticed this feature?

Another issue: I absolutely loved Sidney's dedication of the work to his sister --- so tender and so intimate in a way that Elizabethan writings seldom are...

[johnw1]

Well that's one of the issues I thought might come up... There's this suspension of disbelief that is required of us, especially regarding the cross-dressing... Sidney asks us to believe in these men disguising themselves as women and having other men (and women) fall in love with them...

And I was indeed surprised at the frankness with which Sidney addresses the subject of sexual desire in these cases... for example, Philoclea and Gynecia falling in love with Zelmane (who is actually a man, but they don't know it and have thus, technically at least, fallen in love with another woman), etc. Anyone noticed this feature?

Another issue: I absolutely loved Sidney's dedication of the work to his sister --- so tender and so intimate in a way that Elizabethan writings seldom are...

Yeah I know - I don't have such a big problem with this, as I say I'm familiar with it in other comic literature from the time - its just that there's only so much I can take!

The attraction between the women is quite interesting but you see that sort of thing in Shakespeare as well - say, As You Like It or Twelfth Night. The Elizabethan/Jacobeans were interested in the roles of men and women and how interchangeable they are and were hardly squeamish when it came to sex etc. So you're right there is some interesting social/cultural stuff in there I just didn't like the book as a whole.

[dfloyd]

Ayn Rand.

[stlukesguild]

That goes without saying.:biggrinjester:

[Pecksie]

Ayn Rand.

Of course. And Paulo Coelho. And Jacquelyn Mitchard. The list could go on and on. :wink5:

This was the first long Elizabethan prose work I've ever tackled and I was curious about other people's reactions. Do you guys have any other suggestions regarding prose from this period?