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This book is a study of the representation of the Persian empire in English drama across the early modern period, from the 1530s to the 1690s. The wide focus of this book, encompassing thirteen dramatic entertainments, both canonical and little-known, allow it to trace the changes and developments in the dramatic use of Persia and its people across one and a half centuries. It explores what Persia signified to English playwrights and audiences in this period; the ideas and associations conjured up by mention of 'Persia'; and where information about Persia came from. It also considers how ideas about Persia changed with the development of global travel and trade, as English people came into people with Persians for the first time. In addressing these issues, this book provides an examination not only of the representation of Persia in dramatic material, but of the broader relationship between travel, politics and the theatre in early modern England.
About the author
Chloë Houston is Associate Professor in the Department of English Literature at the University of Reading, UK.
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Chloë Houston s Persia in Early Modern English Drama, 1530 1699: The Imagined Empire, part of the New Transculturalisms, 1400 1800 series, encapsulates the essence of earlier scholars and offers a detailed analysis of the evolving portrayals of Persia in early modern English literature. ... This well-structured monograph analyzes fourteen dramatic works, either well-known or anonymous, and is divided into three sections according to the historical periods they reflected. (Yaxin Shi, Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 56 (2), 2025)
