Overview

Doctor Faustus, is Christopher Marlowe's most popular play and is often seen as one of the overwhelming triumphs of the English Renaissance. It has had a rich and varied critical history often arousing violent critical controversy. This guide offers students an introduction to its critical and performance history, surveying notable stage productions from its initial performance in 1594 to the present and including TV, audio and cinematic versions. It includes a keynote chapter outlining major areas of current research on the play and four new critical essays. Finally, a guide to critical, web-based and production-related resources and an annotated biography provide a basis for further individual research.

Full Product Details

Author:   Professor Sara Munson Deats
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Dimensions:   Width: 13.80cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.424kg
ISBN:  

9781847061379

ISBN 10:   1847061370
Pages:   216
Publication Date:   19 November 2009
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Language:   English

Table of Contents

"Series Introduction Timeline Introduction, Sara Munson Deats (University of South Florida, USA) 1. The Critical Backstory, Bruce T. Brandt (South Dakota State University, USA) 2. The Performance History, David Bevington (University of Chicago, USA) 3. The State of the Art - Current Critical Research, Robert A. Logan (University of Hartford, USA) 4. New Directions: Doctor Faustus and Renaissance Hermeticism, Andrew Duxfield (Sheffield Hallam University, UK) 5. New Directions: Imperialism as Devilry: A Postcolonial Analysis of Doctor Faustus, Toni Francis ( The College of the Bahamas) 6. New Directions: ""What means this show?"" Directing a Student Faustus, Andrew James Hartley (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA) 7. New Directions: The Other Black Arts: Doctor Faustus and the Inky Words of Printing and Writing Georgia Brown (London, UK) 8. A Survey of Resources, Sarah K. Scott (Mount St. Mary's University, USA) Notes on Contributors Index"

Reviews

This wide-ranging book provides food for thought for readers of all levels: it helps orient the beginner with useful surveys of the critical territory and it caters to more advanced readers with stimulating scholarly essays on topics such as postcolonialism, print culture and the occult. Andrew Duxfield approaches Renaissance hermeticism in an admirably clear and user-friendly way; Georgia Brown imaginatively examines writing/printing as both a context for and a theme of the play; and Andrew Hartley's experience of directing Dr Faustus provides brilliant and pithy insights about the play's theatricality and applicability to audiences and readers today. There are extensive (and helpfully annotated) reading lists to guide all readers through the critical maze. Every chapter is full of useful information and observations. This is a valuable addition to the library of every school or university - and to the bookcase of every student. <br>- Laurie Maguire, Professor of English, University of Oxford, UK

Doctor Faustus: A Critical Guide offers meticulously detailed and lucid overviews of the vexed textual, critical, and performance history of Marlowe's most widely read and performed play, devoting an entire chapter to recent trends in scholarship and interpretation. For these reasons, and because of its deliberate emphasis on the relatively neglected area of performance studies of Doctor Faustus, it is an exceptionally ambitious and valuable work. <br>- Constance Brown Kuriyama, Professor of English, Texas Tech University, USA

Author Information

Sara Munson Deats is Distinguished University Professor of English and Co-Director of the Center of Applied Humanities at The University of South Florida, USA. She has published widely on Marlowe and Shakespeare, has served as President of the Marlowe Society of America, and in 1998 received the international Roma Gill Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Marlowe Scholarship.

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