'This impressive collection of essays positions itself at the forefront of early modern literary studies, at the boundary between the new historicism and other recent studies of cross-disciplinary influence. The notion of 'form' as poised ambiguously between freedom and determination, between the external and outward on the one hand and the essential and inherently inward on the other, is essential to the enterprise. Form is a relationship between producer and consumer, making the composition and transmission of thought possible by shaping what can be said in political, social, and literary discourse. This collection of essays brilliantly encourages and deepens such a cross-disciplinary approach. This is a book not to miss.' - David Bevington, University of Chicago