Kathryn DeZur is professor of English at the State University of New York College of Technology at Delhi.

• AcknowledgmentsA Note on the TextIntroductionChapter 1: Queens and WivesChapter 2: Wives and Regents as ReadersChapter 3: Defending the Castle in Sidney’s Old ArcadiaChapter 4: Counting the CountessChapter 5: Lady Mary Wroth’s Reading of RomanceChapter 6: Sewing Accord with A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney’s ArcadiaBibliographyAbout the Author Index

Touching on a daunting array of issues about early modern women as readers and writers of romance, DeZur focuses on depictions of royal women as targets—and occasionally agents of—verbal seduction, not only in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia (as her title suggests) but also in some of its literary progeny. Four chapters treating the individual works follow a pair of background chapters on women as rulers and as readers. These works include Sidney's original manuscript version of The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia; the radically revised version published in 1593 under the auspices of the countess herself, Philip's sister Mary; The Countess of Montgomery's Urania (1621) written by his niece, Lady Mary Wroth; and Anna Weamys's A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia (1651). DeZur's linking of queenship to discourses about housewifery, and discussion of the lesser-known Weamys, will particularly interest scholars. Summing Up: Recommended. For comprehensive collections serving graduate students and researchers.

Kathryn DeZur is professor of English at the State University of New York College of Technology at Delhi.

• AcknowledgmentsA Note on the TextIntroductionChapter 1: Queens and WivesChapter 2: Wives and Regents as ReadersChapter 3: Defending the Castle in Sidney’s Old ArcadiaChapter 4: Counting the CountessChapter 5: Lady Mary Wroth’s Reading of RomanceChapter 6: Sewing Accord with A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney’s ArcadiaBibliographyAbout the Author Index

Touching on a daunting array of issues about early modern women as readers and writers of romance, DeZur focuses on depictions of royal women as targets—and occasionally agents of—verbal seduction, not only in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia (as her title suggests) but also in some of its literary progeny. Four chapters treating the individual works follow a pair of background chapters on women as rulers and as readers. These works include Sidney's original manuscript version of The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia; the radically revised version published in 1593 under the auspices of the countess herself, Philip's sister Mary; The Countess of Montgomery's Urania (1621) written by his niece, Lady Mary Wroth; and Anna Weamys's A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia (1651). DeZur's linking of queenship to discourses about housewifery, and discussion of the lesser-known Weamys, will particularly interest scholars. Summing Up: Recommended. For comprehensive collections serving graduate students and researchers.

Kathryn DeZur is professor of English at the State University of New York College of Technology at Delhi.

• AcknowledgmentsA Note on the TextIntroductionChapter 1: Queens and WivesChapter 2: Wives and Regents as ReadersChapter 3: Defending the Castle in Sidney’s Old ArcadiaChapter 4: Counting the CountessChapter 5: Lady Mary Wroth’s Reading of RomanceChapter 6: Sewing Accord with A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney’s ArcadiaBibliographyAbout the Author Index

Touching on a daunting array of issues about early modern women as readers and writers of romance, DeZur focuses on depictions of royal women as targets—and occasionally agents of—verbal seduction, not only in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia (as her title suggests) but also in some of its literary progeny. Four chapters treating the individual works follow a pair of background chapters on women as rulers and as readers. These works include Sidney's original manuscript version of The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia; the radically revised version published in 1593 under the auspices of the countess herself, Philip's sister Mary; The Countess of Montgomery's Urania (1621) written by his niece, Lady Mary Wroth; and Anna Weamys's A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia (1651). DeZur's linking of queenship to discourses about housewifery, and discussion of the lesser-known Weamys, will particularly interest scholars. Summing Up: Recommended. For comprehensive collections serving graduate students and researchers.