ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces a conscious methodological intervention in the form of a cyclical approach to studying the sensory complexities of Jacobean metropolitan environments. It argues for the articulation of a Renaissance literary tradition of sensation representation in the context of metropolitan environments. The book suggests that Jacobean drama could be a significant source for the study of the senses as components of early modern urban literature and culture. It aims to historicize and set in motion certain assumptions about the intricate Jacobean connections between city, senses, and playhouse environments. The book addresses the forms of urban knowledge mediated by sensation on stage that develop in response to the extraordinary material growth of early Stuart London. It examines how modes of ocular uncertainty become instrumental to rethinking on stage the performativity of therapeutic confinement and the charitable origins of its institutional ideology.
