On the interaction of different vernacular literatures in early modern Europe in times of turbulent state formation, confessional difference and transcontinental imperial expansion. Through the careers of diplomats, exiles, actors, conquistadors and other travelers, we uncover the deep mutual interest of authors in their neighbors’ writings, a story obscured by emphasis upon classical antiquity’s continuing hold on learning. We consider work in all genres and are particularly concerned with the politics of theater; poetics; prosody; experiment; the attractiveness of translated prose fiction; philosophy and political theory therein.
