Edmund Spenser: A Life by Andrew Hadfield (review)

chose the key terms on which she focuses to create patterns of meaning. Though she may be right, one cannot at this remove know what Chaucer, the Gawain-poet, or Malory intended. However, these mentions are by no means central to any of the arguments in these essays, so the work remains valuable. The other weakness in the text is repetition. A scholar coming to this book to read a specific essay might not notice this problem, but one who sits down to read the whole text could be annoyed by the repetition of ideas. This problem is particularly apparent in the last two essays, which provide not only much the same argument, but use many of the same examples. This repetition is understandable since the text is a compilation of essays that have previously been published elsewhere; authors often use similar ideas in essays that will be presented in disparate venues. However, when the essays appear together, the recycling of ideas and examples from earlier works becomes apparent. These weaknesses aside, this book is quite valuable to scholars. Mann’s essays present thorough, well-researched studies on a variety of words in context and go beyond simple word study to consider the thematic resonance of the key terms that she considers. Readers of Christianity and Literature should also appreciate the respect Mann maintains when dealing with the religious themes that are everpresent in medieval literature, but which secular scholars often overlook. Laura K. Bedwell The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Andrew Hadfield, Edmund Spenser: A Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0199591022. Pp. xxi + 624. $45.95 Andrew Hadfield modestly begins his biography with the admission that ‘‘Edmund Spenser’s life will probably always be shrouded in a certain mystery’’ (1). Nevertheless, by the end of this monumental scholarly work, the reader has learned an enormous deal about Spenser’s life and the various economic, political, religious , and discursive contexts in which the poet was embedded. Indeed, ‘‘context’’ quickly becomes a crucial term for this biography—the first since A. C. Judson’s in 1945—as Hadfield sets out to correct a skewed critical perception of Spenser, who ‘‘is invariably seen as a remote and unattractive figure, the poet’s poet, or the brutal spokesperson for a savage colonial order in Ireland’’ (12). Hadfield does not shy away from the evidence that has undergirded such views, but he considerably complicates those views. The end result is a complex and compelling portrait of Spenser and his world, warts and all. Hadfield’s Introduction justifies his use of biographical speculation and establishes the intertwined relationship between Spenser’s life and works. Hadfield asserts, ‘‘rigour and speculation should not be seen as polar opposites,’’ and he deftly navigates ‘‘the Scylla of speculation and the Charybdis of the limited archive ’’ (10–11). His speculations accompany a considerable body of analysis on the Spenser canon. This biography effectively doubles as an introduction to the Book Reviews 111 complete works of Spenser in poetry and prose, and Hadfield clearly considers such commentary inseparable from the task of reconstructing Spenser’s life. As he states most clearly in the Afterword, ‘‘if linking the poet to a life manifested outside his works is not an easy task, it is one that cannot be ignored because Spenser consciously refers to his life throughout his work, albeit in invariably oblique terms’’ (401). Hadfield mines the works for what they can tell us about the poet, and he does so in a consistently cautious and convincing manner. Chapter 1 delves into Spenser’s origins and early life, and it immediately demonstrates the kind of scholarly speculation outlined in the introduction. Left with an inconclusive historical record, Hadfield carefully considers multiple possibilities for Spenser’s parentage and a familial connection with the wealthy Spencers of Althorp. To situate his account of Spenser’s youth, Hadfield condenses research on early modern London and the English grammar school education, and he even offers a vivid portrait of what Spenser’s walk to the Merchant Taylors’ School may have been like (25). Hadfield demonstrates the importance of Richard...