Publisher Description

James VI of Scotland and I of England participated in the burgeoning literary culture of the Renaissance, not only as a monarch and patron, but as an author in his own right, publishing extensively in a number of different genres over four decades. As the first monograph devoted to James as an author, this book offers a fresh perspective on his rei

Author Biography

Jane Rickard is Lecturer in English at the University of Leeds

Table of Contents

Introduction: Reading James VI and I
1. Constructing the Writer-King: the early poetry
2. The word of God and the word of the King: the early scriptural exegeses
3. Print, authority, interpretation: the major prose works
4. Monumentalising the royal author: The Workes (1616)
5. The late poetry and the deconstruction of authority
Afterword
Bibliography
Index

Review

Rickard's book is … welcome and long overdue … a book that deserves attention from both literary scholars and historians

This is a timely and valuable contribution to Jacobean literary scholarship which … deserves to be widely read

an illuminating and much welcome study, which will prove indispensable to future students of the literary production of this most mysterious of kings


an authoritative and fascinating book … Everyone at all interested in James VI and I ought to read it

Rickard's intriguing and accessible account certainly provides many new perspectives from which to view James's reign -- .

Promotional

King James VI of Scotland and I of England participated in the burgeoning literary culture of the Renaissance as patron and author.

Long Description

James VI of Scotland and I of England participated in the burgeoning literary culture of the Renaissance, not only as a monarch and patron, but as an author in his own right, publishing extensively in a number of different genres over four decades. As the first monograph devoted to James as an author, this book offers a fresh perspective on his reigns in Scotland and England, and also on the inter-relationship of authorship and authority, literature and politics in the Renaissance.Beginning with the poetry he wrote in Scotland in the 1580s, it moves through a wide range of his writings in other genres, including scriptural exegeses, political, social and theological treatises and printed speeches, concluding with his manuscript poetry of the early 1620s. The book combines extensive primary research into the preparation, material form and circulation of these varied writings, with theoretically informed consideration of the relationship between authors, texts and readers. The discussion thus explores James's responses to, and interventions in, a range of literary, political and religious debates, and reveals the development of his aims and concerns as an author.Rickard argues that, despite the King's best efforts to the contrary, his writings expose the tensions and contradictions between authorship and authority. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of the reign of James VI and I, the literary and political cultures of late sixteenth-century Scotland and early seventeenth-century England, the development of notions of authorship and the relationship between literature and politics.

Review Text

James VI and I has often had a bad press, his reign generating a drip-drip of invective masquerading as analysis over the centuries. Probably only Edward II comes off worse in terms of stereotypical, homophobic caricaturisation. For film-makers this image still remains. Thankfully, however, Jenny Wormald and Pauline Croft, among others, have begun to transform poor James from a two-dimensional cartoon to a more rounded portrait of a complex king. Jane Rickard''s substantial assessment of the objectives and the tensions within James''s large body of writings provides a much-needed evaluation of his mental world. In order to understand more fully the influences on his writing, Rickard places them within their historical and political contexts in four main phases: the ''construction of James as an author'' in his early and overtly literary writings of the 1580s and early 1590s, and the scriptural exegeses of the same period; his increasing concern to control the projection of his kingship in the major prose works of the late 1590s and early 1600s; the ''monumentalisation of the royal author'' during the middle years of his English reign; and finally his return to poetry in his last years to 1625. What emerges is James''s conscious use of his prolific writings throughout his life to further his political, diplomatic, literary and image-making objectives-epitomised for instance by the publication of his epic poem Lepanto in 1591, and reaching its zenith in his Workes of 1616. In such writings he was attempting to communicate with a wide audience, ranging from his critics within the Scottish kirk to the English political and literary

Review Quote

This is a timely and valuable contribution to Jacobean literary scholarship which ... deserves to be widely read

Description for Sales People

1 The first monograph devoted to the extensive and varied writings of King James VI and I.2 Explores the full range of James's writings in different genres and media, and covers both his English and Scottish reigns.3 Combines extensive primary research into the writing and circulation of James's works with theoretically informed consideration of the relationship between authors, texts and readers.4 Provides an insight into James's kingship, and also offers an illuminating perspective on the relationship between authorship and authority, literature and politics in the Renaissance.

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