Spenserian Poetics: Idolatry, Iconoclasm and Magic

Library Journal

Arguing that iconoclasm taken literally (many of the quests in The Faerie Queene seek to destroy rather than find) is an essential concept in understanding of Spenserian art, Gross explores ``the dynamic interrelations of idolatry, iconoclasm, and magic in Spenser's poem.'' Background chapters on these topics from biblical times to the Renaissance lead into detailed analyses of key episodes in which divinity and icon interact, often violently; Arthur's fight with Orgoglio, Britomart at the House of Busyrane, the Blatant Beast story, etc. The quality of Gross's scholarship is high, and he rightly focuses attention upon Spenser's ethical and formal complexity. Recommended for Renaissance Studies collections. Robert E. Brown, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, N.Y.