Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.