Narrative Structure and Reader Formation in Lady Mary Wroth's Urania

<p>Narrative Structure and Reader Formation in Lady Mary Wroth’s <em>Urania</em> offers the first systematic formal and thematic analysis of Wroth’s <em>Urania</em> in its historical context and explores the structural means by which Wroth fashions her readership. The book thus has a dual focus at once on narrative art and reader formation. It makes two original claims the first being that the <em>Urania</em> is not the unorganized accumulation of stories critics have tended to present it as but a work of sophisticated narrative structures i.e. a complex text in a positive sense. These structures are revealed by means of a circumspect narratological analysis of the formal and thematic patterns that organise the <em>Urania</em>. Such an analysis furthers our understanding of the reading strategies that Wroth encourages. The second claim is then that through the careful structuring of her text Wroth seeks to create her own ideal readership. More precisely the formal and thematic structures of the <em>Urania</em> engage with readers’ expectations inviting them to reflect on prominent thematic issues and respond to the text as what early modern prefaces term good readers. Combining narratological methods with a generic perspective and taking into account the work of book historians on early modern reading practices this monograph provides a new approach to the <em>Urania</em> supplementing the typically gender- or (auto)biographically-oriented interpretations of the romance. Moreover it contributes to the study of early modern (prose) narrative and romance and exemplifies how historically contextualised narratological analysis may yield new insights and profit research on reading strategies.</p>