John Lyly: Selected Prose and Dramatic Work (Fyfield Books)

At a time when Shakespeare was still a struggling unknown, John Lyly (1554?-1606) was already the principal court dramatist and author of the period's best-selling prose work, the wonderfully elaborated and, in its day, much-imitatedEuphues. To his contemporaries, Lyly was one of the major luminaries of the time; they would have been shocked by the totality of his later eclipse. A lack of modern editions meant that his work was neglected even by scholars. This edition brings his achievement before a wider audience, restoring him to his pivotal place in the English Renaissance. Three texts are included: a substantial extract fromEuphues: The Anatomy of Wit, and the playsCampaspe(the first significant comedy of the English Renaissance) andGallathea(which exercised a considerable influence on Shakespeare). The texts are edited from first editions; the extract fromEuphuesis the first modern spelling edition of the 1578 text. Leah Scragg's introduction and annotationscontribute to the revaluation of this key figure in English literature.John Lyly is the author of 'John Lyly: Selected Prose and Dramatic Work (Fyfield Books)', published 2003 under ISBN 9780415969598 and ISBN 041596959X.