Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments (Blackwell Anthologies) [Paperback]

Arthur F. Kinney (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0631208038 | ISBN-13: 978-0631208037 | Publication Date: January 20, 2000 | Edition: 1

This pioneering collection of non-Shakespearean Renaissance drama covers the full sweep of dramatic performances. Newly edited from manuscript and quarto, all the major playwrights are here as well as new dramatic scripts and plays published for the first time. No single period has been more complex and colourful than the Renaissance and this anthology shows the age recording itself in the most powerful body of dramatic works England has produced.

• Offers a pioneering collection of eighteen works of non-Shakespearean Renaissance drama, Elizabethan and Jacobean.
  
• Covers the full sweep of dramatic performances, including State progresses and Court masques.
  
• Provides an introduction that recalls the cultural history of the Shakespearean age in Early Modern England.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This pioneering collection of non-Shakespearean Renaissance drama covers the full sweep of dramatic performances in the England Shakespeare knew. Newly edited from manuscript and quarto, all the major playwrights are here - Marlowe, Jonson, Middleton, Webster - as well as new dramatic scripts and plays published for the first time.

About the Author

Arthur F. Kinney is Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and Director of the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies. He is Editor of the journal English Literary Renaissance and author or editor of numerous books, including Renaissance Drama: An Anthology (Blackwell Publishers, 1999).

Product Details

• Paperback: 744 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (January 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631208038
• ISBN-13: 978-0631208037
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #472,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Limited Selection--Incomplete, March 1, 2005

By 

Q (Q Continuum) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments (Blackwell Anthologies) (Paperback)

This anthology comes off rather badly in comparison to ENGLISH RENAISSANCE DRAMA: A NORTON ANTHOLOGY edited by David Bevington. Missing in action are Tamburlaine and The Jew of Malta by Marlowe, The Tragedy of Mariam by Elizabeth Cary, The Alchemist by Ben Jonson, The Maid's Tragedy by Beaumont and Fletcher, The Roaring Girl by Middleton and Dekker, Women Beware Women by Middleton, and The White Devil by Webster--classic works all.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have, September 22, 2004

By 

NJC (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments (Blackwell Anthologies) (Paperback)

A must have for any fan of the theater in general or of Elizabethan and Jacobian drama in particular. I've now used this book for two classes at two different universities, so it seems it's not only my opinion that the book is superb. The selection of plays is nice, the editing excellent, and the introductions to each play masterful. Highly useful. My sole criticism is that Kinney doesn't include "The Revenger's Tragedy," a terrific play from the period. But what a period for theater Kinney presents! If you think Shakespeare is the only dramatist of his time, or even one of three (the others being Jonson and Marlow), get this book and be amazed. Shakespeare still remains the best in my judgement, but he didn't spring from nothing; the topsoil was terrific. With great scholarship and lucid writing, Kinney describes the many fine writers and the magnificently troubled time in which they worked and lived.