The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 11.2292 Monday, 10 December 2000
[1] From: Phyll Gorfain <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 08 Dec 2000 12:02:14 -0500
Subj: Re: SHK 11.2283 Shakespeare's Contemporaries
[2] From: Jack Heller <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 08 Dec 2000 16:17:36 -0500
Subj: Re: SHK 11.2283 Shakespeare's Contemporaries
[3] From: Stephanie Hughes <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Saturday, 09 Dec 2000 14:15:02 +0000
Subj: Re: SHK 11.2283 Shakespeare's Contemporaries
[4] From: Jill Phillips <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Saturday, 09 Dec 2000 15:14:38 -0400
Subj: Re: SHK 11.2283 Shakespeare's Contemporaries
[5] From: Hal Tynan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Saturday, 9 Dec 2000 16:56:24 -0700
Subj: Thanks on ShakesPEER Recommendations
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Phyll Gorfain <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 08 Dec 2000 12:02:14 -0500
Subject: 11.2283 Shakespeare's Contemporaries
Comment: Re: SHK 11.2283 Shakespeare's Contemporaries
Hal,
I am teaching an undergraduate course called Domestic Violence in Early
Modern Drama and my students, many of whom had not before read any early
modern scripts other than those by Shakespeare, have loved:
The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster
The Changeling, Rowley and Middleton
Tis Pity She's a Whore, John Ford
Other undergraduate students have, in other classes, been excited by
reading:
Ben Johnson, Volpone
Middleton, Women Beware Women
Christopher Marlowe, Edward II and Tamburlaine
Getting beyond Shakespeare will be thrilling for you as you discover his
context and the other superb writers who were inspired by, or inspired
him.
Phyllis Gorfain
Dept of English
Oberlin College
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jack Heller <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 08 Dec 2000 16:17:36 -0500
Subject: 11.2283 Shakespeare's Contemporaries
Comment: Re: SHK 11.2283 Shakespeare's Contemporaries
I'm going to write a response to two different postings here. I have not
yet had the happy fortune to teach a course in Renaissance drama, but
hope springs eternal and I have thought about syllabi I would like to
try. So I once thought about a course which could be titled something
like "Shakespeare in Dramatic Context" in which his plays would be read
along with those of near Tudor and Stuart contemporaries. Perhaps the
job market will work in my favor soon, so let me run my list by this
listserv for comments. I would match these:
King John and The Troublesome Raigne of King John (anonymous)
Richard II and Edward II (Marlowe) and perhaps Perkin Warbeck (Ford)
Romeo and Juliet and 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (Ford)
The Merchant of Venice and The Jew of Malta (Marlowe)
Julius Caesar and Sophonisba (Marston)
As You Like It and Every Man in His Humour (Jonson)
Hamlet and The Spanish Tragedy (Kyd) and The Revenger's Tragedy
(Middleton [though some will disagree with that attribution])
Twelfth Night and Bartholomew Fair (Jonson)
Coriolanus and Sejanus (Jonson)
Measure for Measure and The Malcontent (Marston) and The Phoenix
(Middleton)
Macbeth and The Witch (Middleton)
As for the question on the best of Shakespeare's contemporaries, I'd
suggest purchasing the trade paperback edition from Oxford UP of
Marlowe, Jonson, Ford, Webster, Middleton, Marston. These usually have
3-4 good selections of plays and often one quirky choice each. (Webster,
A Cure for a Cuckold, anyone?). But as I've said on this list before, a
good trade paperback edition of Beaumont and Fletcher is greatly to be
desired. Would some publisher please take a hint?
Jack Heller
[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Stephanie Hughes <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Saturday, 09 Dec 2000 14:15:02 +0000
Subject: 11.2283 Shakespeare's Contemporaries
Comment: Re: SHK 11.2283 Shakespeare's Contemporaries
There's nothing that comes close to Shakespeare. That said, my first
choice is John Webster, second, Ben Jonson.
Stephanie Hughes
[4]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jill Phillips <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Saturday, 09 Dec 2000 15:14:38 -0400
Subject: 11.2283 Shakespeare's Contemporaries
Comment: Re: SHK 11.2283 Shakespeare's Contemporaries
Dear Hal,
I'd recommend Webster -- The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil,
(pretty difficult, and takes some getting used to) and Chapman --Bussy
D'Ambois and The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois. Have you read Marlowe?
Jill Phillips
Department of English
University of Virginia
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
[5]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Hal Tynan <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Saturday, 9 Dec 2000 16:56:24 -0700
Subject: Thanks on ShakesPEER Recommendations
My thanks to JEAN, ELIZABETH, ERICK, PAUL, JENIFFER, and ABIGAIL for
their helpful recommdendations on the playwright contemporaries of
Shakespeare! I'm now ready to "have fun with my explorations". <g> A
"wealth of Renaissance drama" indeed.
BTW, I haven't said hello.
Greetings to all Shakespeare enthusiasts!
I'm not an expert in S, just a lover of all things S. I'm reading Henry
II right now, who sounds like a precursor to Hamlet. Lots of good
background analysis on the Web to be had.
Hal Tynan