Choice Review

Brown (emeritus, Loyola Univ.) has read widely and to good effect in tracing the influence of the school of More, Erasmus, and Colet on selected Tudor moralities. Two broad introductory chapters--"The English Humanists" and "Drama and the Age"--are followed by discussions of humanist themes central to the late moralities: pedagogy, rhetoric, church and government, social issues and "human duality." Plays studied include Like Will to Like, The Trial of Treasure, and Three Ladies of London, among others. Brown's is the only book-length assessment of this influence, which had long been a staple critical assumption concerning these texts until the advent of more socially constructed theoretical approaches. Undergraduates will find the book to be a succinct introduction in the "old historical/history of ideas" school, and more experienced readers will appreciate the author's grasp of primary sources. Though newer approaches (e.g., by Stephen Greenblatt) are very briefly mentioned, the author skirts extended critical confrontation in favor of a compendium of traditional ideological commonplaces within the dramas. Suitable for undergraduate and advanced collections. Includes illustrations, notes, and a selected bibliography. C. Baker; Armstrong Atlantic State University