Theatre, Magic and Philosophy William Shakespeare, John Dee and the Italian legacy

• Main Author: Horvatch, Dragnea Gabriela (Author)
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon, Oxon Routledge 2017
• Series: Anglo-Italian Renaissance studies 17
• Subjects: English drama > Italian influences; Magic in literature; Philosophy in literature
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.

 Analyzing Shakespeare's views on theatre and magic and John Dee's concerns with philosophy and magic in the light of the Italian version of philosophia perennis (mainly Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Giordano Bruno), this book offers a new perspective on the Italian-English cultural dialogue at the Renaissance and its contribution to intellectual history. In an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach, it investigates the structural commonalities of theatre and magic as contiguous to the foundational concepts of perennial philosophy, and explores the idea that the Italian thinkers informed not only natural philosophy and experimentation in England, but also Shakespeare's theatre. The first full length project to consider Shakespeare and John Dee in juxtaposition, this study brings textual and contextual evidence that Gonzalo, an honest old Counsellor in The Tempest, is a plausible theatrical representation of John Dee.