Doctor Faustus (Plays for Performance Series) [Hardcover]

Christopher Marlowe (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 092958760X | ISBN-13: 978-0929587608 | Publication Date: August 1, 1991

Marlowe's classic treatment of the myth of man's greed and ambition has contemporary reverberations that make it compelling drama. Plays for Performance Series.

Editorial Reviews

Review

These are highly recommended wherever there is an interest in classical drama. (Kliatt Paperback Review )

From the Back Cover

Doctor Faustus is a classic; its imaginative boldness and vertiginous ironies have fascinated readers and playgoers alike. But the fact that this play exists in two early versions, printed in 1604 and 1616, has posed formidable problems for critics. How much of either version was written by Marlowe, and which is the more authentic? Is the play orthodox or radically interrogative? Michael Keefer's early work helped to establish the current consensus that the 1604 text was censored and revised; the first Broadview edition, praised for its lucid introduction and scholarship, was the first to restore two displaced scenes to their correct place. All competing editions presume that the 1604 text was printed from authorial manuscript, and that the 1616 text is of little substantive value. But in 2006 Keefer's fresh analysis of the evidence showed that the 1604 quarto's Marlovian scenes were printed from a corrupted manuscript, and that the 1616 quarto (though indeed censored and revised) preserves some readings earlier than those of the 1604 text. This revised and updated Broadview edition offers the best available text of Doctor Faustus. Keefer's critical introduction reconstructs the ideological contexts that shaped and deformed the play, and the text is accompanied by textual and explanatory notes and excerpts from sources. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 71 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee (August 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 092958760X
• ISBN-13: 978-0929587608
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,677,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An Incomplete Story, April 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Doctor Faustus: In a New Adaptation (Plays for Performance Series) (Paperback)

I had purchased this version of Marlowe's work because it was convenient at the time. While I thought it was a good story, it was also heavily edited. It did spur my desier to find the original A and B texts of the play, and now that I have read the more complete version I feel that this particular revision actually cheats the reader of the true depth of the play and the fall of Faustus. Many scenes from the original, such as the knight's plot of revenge, were removed. The author claimed such cuts were made for the sake of a more 'performable' play, which may be true, but in this, and other instances, I felt the material cut was crucial to filling out the plot and improving character develop throughout the story. I read both versions with a directors eye, and I would urge anyone considering this purchase to look for 'The Complete Plays' instead.