Renaissance Society of America 2014 Annual Meeting

Report of the Book Reviews Editor

The number of reviews in the Renaissance Quarterly continues to expand to an average of approximately 125 an issue; beyond that number—and the reviews could ostensibly climb higher than the 125-130 cut-off—the strain on the editorial staff (and on me) becomes too great, and of course the length of each issue makes it too cumbersome. The Sixteenth Century Journal, as mentioned in the report of Fall, 2013, is the only early modern journal that compares to RQ in terms of the quantity, if not quite the range or quality, of reviews. As a result, publishers and authors have been more eager to send us their books—at least thirty to fortyappear to arrive in a week—and those that don’t are requested by Maura Kenny to ship us their new titles. Attempts have been made by me to manage the chaos by culling some books—conference paper collections, for example; but many important essays have been published in edited collections, which therefore continue to be commissioned, and while the enormity of Shakespeare books can be exasperating, they should be reviewed, given the extremely high numbers of Shakespeare scholars in our membership ranks.

The question of accommodating this expansion is covered in “Renaissance Quarterly: A Proposal for Growth,” which board members should consult for more detail than that presented here. Discussions with the University of Chicago Press regarding these matters will perhaps be resolved by the Fall, 2014 meeting.

It had been a goal of mine to begin the reviews section with three or four longer “featured reviews” in the manner of the American Historical Journal, but this has been on hold due to the page number issue. Tracy Robey, however, suggested—and the University of Chicago Press agreed—that we offer one “featured review” as open access on the RSA website, as a tantalizing preview of the next issue. Luc Deitz’s review of the enormous, eight-volume correspondence of Joseph Scaliger—an event in its own right—was the first such featured review. Upcoming featured reviews will include Brendan Kane’s review of Jane Ohlmeyer’s significant book, The Making Ireland English: The Irish Aristocracy in the Seventeenth Century, and Peter Herman’s piece on volume three of Milton’s Complete Works. Herman also intends to comment on the stratospheric price ($250.00) of this and so many other books, and I hope to eventually solicit an essay (to be included where the review essays are) on the matter of pricing for these books. With another essay focusing on electronic books, I hope that this could engage RQ in the wider debate in the publishing world concerning academic books and their future.

Another open access review will highlight Nick Wilding’s assessment of another Galileo book; it was Wilding who exposed, in his Renaissance Quarterly review, the forgery of an edition of Galileo’s Siderus Nuncius—a devastating find that eventually found its way into a long New Yorker piece (16 December, 2013) which prominently featured RQ.

Managing and editing the often overwhelming number of books, commissionings, and related correspondences could not be possible without the highly dedicated and capable efforts of Maura Kenny, Joseph Bowling, and Colin Macdonald. They are absolutely invaluable to the functioning of RQ (and beyond, of course), and deserve the highest praise for ensuring the quality of the reviews, and for making the job so rewarding for me. I would also like to extend my gratitude to Tracy Robey, the acting program manager of the RSA. She is not only extraordinarily hard-working, but hugely innovative in her ideas for RQ as well as the RSA as a whole. I sincerely hope that the RSA considers her continuation upon Erika Suffern’s return, if she is willing. She truly thinks outside the box at the same time that she understands the traditions and values embodied by the organization. It has been a delight to be her colleague.

Respectfully submitted,

Sarah Covington

24 March, 2014

The following is a summary of the first two RQ issues of 2014:

2014:Vol. 67.1Vol. 67.2

Editions98

Humanism36

Neo-Latin21

Education22

Art1111

Architecture15

Material Culture34

Music-Performance21

Philosophy44

Science-Medicine42

Law11

Politics21

General-Transnational History56

Italy41

France11

Spain-Habsburg32

England1011

Germany1

Gender24

Religion175

Hebraica13

Emblems

Print12

General Literature12

Italian Literature52

Spanish Literature23

French Literature 75

English Literature1935

TOTAL REVIEWS123128