A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia

Anne Weamys's A Continuation of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia is a woman's contribution to one of the dominant genres of her sex's readership in the seventeenth century: the heroic romance. Part of the considerable power and appeal of this work is its reduction of the heroic romance to a smaller scale. In its shorter length and its comparatively direct style, it avoids the fustian and bloat of the form. At the same time, it elaborates on the genre's strongerpoints-its playfulness and fantasy, its explorations of the nuances of sensibility-while not sacrificing its capacity for political statement. Arcadia is an interesting and accessible story that can be read in a single sitting.