Overview
"Featuring period drawings and prints of swordplay, this book examines and compares the only three existing Elizabethan fencing manuals written in English before 1600: Giacomo Di Grassi’s His True Arte of Defense (1594), Vincentio Saviolo’s His Practice in Two Bookes (1595), and George Silver’s Paradoxes of Defence and Bref Instructions Upon my Paradoxes of Defence (1599). More than a technical manual on swordplay, this book explores the influence of a new form of violence introduced into Elizabethan culture by the invention of the rapier. The authors examine the rapier’s influence on the various social classes, the clash between the traditional English fencing masters and those embracing the new style, the growing concern with unregulated dueling, and the frequent references to rapier play in the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. As producer Joseph Papp notes in his Foreword, this is a book that """"makes a difference in performance."
Full Product Details
Author: Craig Turner ,
Tony Soper ,
Joseph Papp
Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
Imprint: Southern Illinois University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 13.90cm
, Height: 1.50cm
, Length: 21.30cm
Weight: 0.213kg
ISBN: 9780809335183
ISBN 10: 0809335182
Pages: 168
Publication Date: 30 March 2016
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
I feel honored to be asked to comment on this splendid and absorbing book. [It] is an invaluable reference book for fight directors and all those involved in staging exhibitions of historical swordplay. I recommend it wholeheartedly. -Patrick Crean, Fight Master of the Stratford, Ontario, Shakespeare Festival
"I feel honored to be asked to comment on this splendid and absorbing book. [It] is an invaluable reference book for fight directors and all those involved in staging exhibitions of historical swordplay. I recommend it wholeheartedly."""" —Patrick Crean, Fight Master of the Stratford, Ontario, Shakespeare Festival"
I feel honored to be asked to comment on this splendid and absorbing book. [It]is an invaluable reference book for fight directors and all those involved in staging exhibitions of historical swordplay. I recommend it wholeheartedly. Patrick Crean, Fight Master of the Stratford, Ontario, Shakespeare Festival
Author Information
Craig Turner is Associate Professor of Theater at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA. Tony Soper is an actor and fight director who has handled fight roles ranging from Shakespeare to samurai.
