Robert Greene's Martinist Transformation in 1590

Abstract

1 Nicholas Storojenko, the Russian critic whose biographical sketch of Robert Greene was translated and printed by Alexander B. Grosart for his great edition of the complete of Robert writes, as soon as Greene attained so privileged a position ... a torturing doubt on the usefulness of his literary work crept into his soul.... It seems that this literary hack, this debauchee, saturated in the mire of a dissolute life, took an exalted view of the aim of literature.... When Greene looked at his love pamphlets, written solely to amuse, from his exalted point of view, they appeared to him, not only useless, but positively hurtful and iniquitous Life and Complete Works in Prose and Verse of Robert ed. Alexander B. Grosart, 15 vols. [i881-86; repr., New York: Russell & Russell, 1964], 1:31-32). More recent critics have also noted the transformation; I will cite just a few: Charles W. Crupi says, In 1590, although with no interruption in the flow of rapidly written works, the tone of Greene's epistles and dedications changes; he begins to admit that his writing so far has been immoral and to claim that henceforth he will write solely for edification. Greene's statements to this effect are often taken as a major turning-point, with the to come read accordingly-as more clearly autobiographical and more consistent in their moral framework than the earlier works (Robert Greene [Boston: Twayne Publishers, 19861, 14); W. W. Barker argues that the transformation in Greene's style is Bakhtinian in character (Rhetorical Romance: The 'Frivolous Toyes' of Robert Greene, in Unfolded Tales: Essays on Renaissance Romance, ed. George M. Logan and Gordon Teskey [Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 19891, 74-97); and Carmine di Biase sees in Greene's 1590 change a larger cultural phenomenon: the decline of euphuism (The Decline of Euphuism: Robert Greene's Struggle Against Popular Taste, in Critical Approaches to English Prose Fiction, 1520-1640, ed. Donald Beecher [Ottawa: Dovehouse Editions, 19981, 85-108).