ABSTRACT

My starting point is encoded in my title: interpretation of Spenser in the 1990s has been particularly interesting in respect to the works he wrote in the 1590s. Indeed, one of the effects of recent Spenser studies has been to recognize that “Spenser in the 1590s” is an important subject. It is now common to distinguish the 1590 Faerie Queene from the poem published in 1596, and to think of Spenser’s writings in the 1590s as specifically belonging to the last decade of his career. One sign of the enabling effect of recent styles of criticism is that Book V has become newly interesting and consequential, and it is with it that I want to begin.