Description: 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.
Brief description: Ton Hoenselaars is Professor of Early Modern English Literature and Culture at Utrecht University, where he teaches Renaissance drama in its historical contexts and in later adaptations both in Britain and abroad. His research concentrates on early modern English literature (with a special focus on Shakespeare) and its international relations. He has published widely on images of nations in Renaissance literature, literature in translation and on Shakespeare in European culture from 1600 to the present day. He is the author of Images of Englishmen and Foreigners in the Drama of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries (1992), and co-editor of a number of collections, including Shakespeare's Italy (1993), The Italian World of English Renaissance Drama (1998), The Author as Character (1999), 400 Years of Shakespeare in Europe (2003), Shakespeare and the Language of Translation (2004), Shakespeare's History Plays (2004) and Challenging Humanism (2005).
Review Quotes: "This volume of essays situates Shakespeare in the context of his too often overlooked contemporary playwrights: Lyly, Peele, Green, Lodge, Nashe, Kyd, Marlowe, Jonson, Marston, Dekker, Heywood, Chapman, Beaumont, Fletcher, Middleton, Webster, Ford, Massinger, and Brome. The 16 concise essays focus primarily on individual writers, but with a productive emphasis on the links between them, including collaboration, competition, imitation, and parody."
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