New essays on Thomas Traherne challenge traditional critical readings of the poet. Thomas Traherne has all too often been defined and studied as a solitary thinker, "out of his time", and not as a participant in the complex intellectual currents of the period. The essays collected here take issue with this reading, placing Traherne firmly in his historical context and situating his work within broader issues in seventeenth-century studies and the history of ideas. They draw on recently published textual discoveries alongside manuscripts which will soon be published for the first time. They address major themes in Traherne studies, including Traherne's understanding of matter and spirit, his attitude towards happiness and holiness, his response to solitude and society, and his Anglican identity. As a whole, the volume aims to re-ignite discussion on settled readings of Traherne's work, to reconsider issues in Traherne scholarship which have long lain dormant, and to supplement our picture of the man and his writings through new discoveries and insights. Elizabeth S. Dodd is programme leader for the MA in theology, ministry and mission and lecturer in theology, imagination and culture at Sarum College, Salisbury; Cassandra Gorman is lecturer in English at Trinity College, Cambridge. Contributors: Jacob Blevins, Warren Chernaik, Phoebe Dickerson, Elizabeth S. Dodd, Ana Elena Gonzalez-Trevino, Cassandra Gorman, Carol Ann Johnston, Alison Kershaw, Kathryn Murphy

Vince Gilligan's Breaking Bad has emerged as a defining example of the recent renaissance in television-making. The sheer breadth and visionary scope of the series demand that it receive extensive critical engagement. The contributors collected here, from chemists and midwives to philosophers and novelists, examine a variety of themes in Breaking Bad. Walter White is discussed as father, as psychopath, as a scientist, and as an example of masculinity. The writers look at the series in terms of gender, neo-liberal politics, and health care reform as well as the more traditional aesthetic categories of narrative construction, experimentation, allusion, and genre. With television emerging as the dominant artistic genre of the early 21st century America, Breaking Bad should not simply be seen as a wildly popular phenomenon, but also as a superbly designed artwork that reflects widespread cultural concerns and crises. The series' complexity warrants the rigorous analysis that it here receives.