Book excerpt: First published in 1984, Sir Philip Sidney and the Interpretation of Renaissance Culture is a collection of essays which reflect the diversity of contemporary approaches to the controversial figure of Sir Philip Sidney, and range from the ‘historicist’ to the ‘revisionist’. Interest in the work of Sir Philip Sidney, in the cultural significance of his ‘Circle’ in the late Elizabethan age and the following years, has always been a subject of interest. Ever since Sidney’s friend Fulke Greville saw his early death as a watershed in English history, the place of this aristocratic poet in literary, cultural and even popular tradition has been momentous. Elevated to mythological status by his contemporaries who survived, he has not lost his power to attract and charm readers of all kids. This book will be of interest to students of literature and history.