Humanism, Machinery, and Renaissance Literature (review)
and gulling — to the specter of “shipwrecks” that are not only commercial, but also social, a central motif in The Merchant of Venice. And in an interesting essay on the participation of the King’s Men in the subgenre of “Prodigal Son Comedy,” Dieter Mehl adroitly exposes the satiric inversion of this sentimental tradition in “The London Prodigal,” a play Shakespeare himself may have written. In thus offering fresh views on controversial issues, the volume’s editors set a high standard that is manifest throughout the essays in this important collection. LEEDS BARROLL Folger Shakespeare Library