Cherished Torment: The Emotional Geography of Lady Mary Wroth's Urania

The Urania's lengthy text may initially appear daunting, but Cavanagh argues that the romance rewards its readers with a richly textured narrative that artfully engages with numerous aesthetic, literary, and intellectual concerns from the early seventeenth century, including race relations, tensions between Christianity and the occult, global expansion, and the composition of the universe.

A sophisticated and erudite study, Cherished Torment moves beyond the intriguing and scandalous events of Wroth's personal life that have understandably captivated the attention of many modern readers to a closer look at the latter's masterful integration of the issues fueling her era's political, scientific, and philosophical debates. Cavanagh's important study will enable readers to better recognize and appreciate Urania's intellectual heritage.