John Dickenson's "Greene in conceipt" (1598): a critical edition with commentary

Stacey, Shirley (1991) John Dickenson's "Greene in conceipt" (1598): a critical edition with commentary. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Greene in Conceipt (1598) is a late example of euphuistic prose romance. It is highly moralistic account of one woman's life, prefaced by a unique satirical advertisement in which the ghost of Robert Greene transmits the story to the narrator in a dream. The story within the dream-frame reworks the popular prodigal son motif found in the works of Greene and Lyly. Valeria, a prodigal daughter, is one of the most complex and interesting female characters in Elizabethan prose fiction. -- Greene in Conceipt is a bibliographical rarity: only two copies of the single edition remain (located in the Huntington and Bodleian Libraries). This edition provides a critical old-spelling text, and is the first to examine both extant copies. The text attempts to follow the Huntington copy exactly with regards to spelling, punctuation, paragraphs, indentations, and dialogue (except for minor regularization of printing house conventions) and all emendations are duly noted. The presence of some variants indicate that the text was corrected in the press, although not necessarily by the author. -- The introduction discusses Greene in Conceipt, particularly with reference to its didacticism and interest in punished women, and examines the role of Robert Greene in the work. The narrative voice, which is deliberately obscured, provides a possible explanation for the didacticism and euphuistic elements in the text. A brief biography of John Dickenson is included, followed by an outline of the critical principles upon which the edition is based. -- The commentary attempts to provide present-day meanings for Dickenson's language, read against the Oxford English Dictionary, as well as his own works and those of his contemporaries (particularly Robert Greene); to identify his use of proverbs and natural history; to examine his classical and contemporary allusions; and, where possible, to give parallels to other texts.

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