Early Modern Hospitality. Ed. David B. Goldstein and Marco Piana (Publications of the Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies: Essays and Studies, 50). Toronto: CRRS, 2021.

• Tim Geelhaar

“When an implacable illness renders all human contact potentially toxic, the virtue of hospitality is the first to fall”. With this powerful statement the editors set the tone for this fascinating volume, which includes thirteen papers from a conference hosted by the Toronto Renaissance and Reformation Colloquium on 26–27 October 2018. Originally, the statement referred to the bubonic plague in Thomas Dekker’s 1603 tale “The Wonderfull Yeare.” But it turned out to be entirely accurate in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which this collection was completed. This unintended coincidence helps the editors link narratives about the social consequences of diseases in the pre-modern era to the present, highlight the eminent role of hospitality for the functioning of societies and its fragility, and even emphasize that the virtue of hospitality is so “dangerous and vexatious”. By referring to hospitality’s ambiguity, the editors connect their work to the current state of research.