Confected Miscellanies in Early Modern England: Gascoigne, Davison, Jonson

Abstract

abstract: The history of the miscellany is complicated, in part, by a confusion about the object of study. Not only is the term "miscellany" anachronistic, but also it is used to denote two related but distinct sorts of texts. Most of the print and manuscript collections labeled miscellanies are what we might call process miscellanies; that is, miscellaneous because of the processes of compilation. Comparatively neglected, however, are confected miscellanies, in which the apparent disorder is a deliberate effect created by the compiler. Brown's essay looks at the common tactics of three such confected miscellanies—George Gascoigne's A Hundred Sundry Flowers (1573), Francis Davison's A Poetical Rapsodie (1602), and Jonson's The Forest (1616)—and their descent from three different classical forms, the anthology, the rhapsody, and the silva. In this context, Brown asks how this conceptual difference can help us understand the purpose and aesthetic value of miscellanies for early modern authors, compilers, and readers.