The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Contemporary Dramatists

This Companion is devoted to the life and works of Shakespeare and contemporary playwrights in early modern London.

Ton Hoenselaars (Edited by)

9780521128742, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 11 October 2012

326 pages, 7 b/w illus. 1 music example
22.7 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.52 kg

'The Companion's achievement is twofold: it introduces the reader to a variety of dramatists contemporary with Shakespeare but much less often studied, and it disproves the idea, prevalent for centuries, of Shakespeare as an isolated genius who worked on his own. In the days before copyright, Shakespeare and his colleagues frequently had a finger in one another's plays, to an extent that renders attribution a far more complicated question than it is generally considered. This realisation is a key to understanding early modern drama, and this book conveys it with efficiency and panache.' Mette Sjölin, English Studies

While Shakespeare's popularity has continued to grow, so has the attention paid to the work of his contemporaries. The contributors to this Companion introduce the distinctive drama of these playwrights, from the court comedies of John Lyly to the works of Richard Brome in the Caroline era. With chapters on a wide range of familiar and lesser-known dramatists, including Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, John Webster, Thomas Middleton and John Ford, this book devotes particular attention to their personal and professional relationships, occupational rivalries and collaborations. Overturning the popular misconception that Shakespeare wrote in isolation, it offers a new perspective on the most impressive body of drama in the history of the English stage.

1. John Lyly and the university wits: George Peele, Robert Greene, Thomas Lodge and Thomas Nashe Arthur F. Kinney
2. Thomas Kyd and the Elizabethan blockbuster: The Spanish Tragedy Clara Calvo
3. 'The words of mercury': Shakespeare and Marlowe Richard Wilson
4. The dyer's hand: Shakespeare and Jonson Warren Chernaik
5. Urbane John Marston: obscenity, playfulness, co-operation Matthew Steggle
6. Thomas Dekker and the emergence of city comedy Darryll Grantley
7. Shakespeare: colleagues, collaborators, co-authors Ton Hoenselaars
8. Thomas Heywood: dramatist of London and playwright of the passions Jean E. Howard
9. George Chapman's learned drama Paul Franssen
10. Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher's tragicomedy as musical melodrama Catherine Henze
11. Thomas Middleton and the early modern theatre Michelle O'Callaghan
12. John Webster: collaboration and solitude Robert Henke
13. John Ford: suffering and silence in Perkin Warbeck and 'Tis Pity She's a Whore Lisa Hopkins
14. Philip Massinger: drama, reputation, and the dynamics of social history Rui Carvalho Homem
15. Richard Brome and the idea of a Caroline theatre Heather Hirschfeld
16. Troublesome histories: performance and early modern drama Elizabeth Schafer.

Subject Areas: Shakespeare studies & criticism [DSGS], Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD]