[WH7]⇒ [PDF] Free Shakespeare and Co Christopher Marlowe Thomas Dekker Ben Jonson Thomas Middleton John Fletcher and the Other Players in His Story Stanley Wells 9780713997736 Books

Shakespeare and Co Christopher Marlowe Thomas Dekker Ben Jonson Thomas Middleton John Fletcher and the Other Players in His Story Stanley Wells 9780713997736 Books

Download As PDF : Shakespeare and Co Christopher Marlowe Thomas Dekker Ben Jonson Thomas Middleton John Fletcher and the Other Players in His Story Stanley Wells 9780713997736 Books

Shakespeare and Co Christopher Marlowe Thomas Dekker Ben Jonson Thomas Middleton John Fletcher and the Other Players in His Story Stanley Wells 9780713997736 Books

Excellent read for those who love Shakespeare AND for those who want to know more about Shakespeare's contemporaries. Shakespeare was a mere mortal when he died, surrounded by contemporaries who were extremely talented. Jonson excelled at comedy, Marlowe at tragedy, some history, lots of gore. Some you may not have heard of, but all produced works worthy of praise heaped on Shakespeare. Shakespeare was exemplary in that he excelled in EVERYTHING--comedy, tragedy, history, long form poetry, sonnets...while each of these men specialized. This book will make you want to chase down Marlowe's plays as well as others.


Tags : Shakespeare and Co.: Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher, and the Other Players in His Story. [Stanley Wells] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. 'Enjoyable, lively … such a pleasure to read … renders the drama of Shakespeare’s contemporaries more than fringe entertainment’ Independent Shakespeare is one of the greatest of all English figures,Stanley Wells,Shakespeare and Co.: Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher, and the Other Players in His Story.,Pantheon,0713997737,Literature,Shakespeare studies & criticism

Shakespeare and Co Christopher Marlowe Thomas Dekker Ben Jonson Thomas Middleton John Fletcher and the Other Players in His Story Stanley Wells 9780713997736 Books Reviews

A fun, fast read...If your looking for who wrote Shakespeare other the Shakespeare you will be disappointed...Prof. Wells though speculates on who may have collaborated with Shakespeare on some plays a little more freely the other academics might but don't look for a smoking gun...the best passage in the book in my opinion is Prof. Wells description of the death of Marlow, it is vivid and would make a great story for any High School Lit. teacher to use to spice up her/his Jr. Eng. Lit. class.

If you are into Shakespeare I think you will find "Shakespeare & Co...." a great read.
I gave three copies of this book, as gifts. It's quite fascinating in presenting the many other writers & playwrights who were working at the same time as WS. It does an effective job transporting you back to the late 1590s.
Very interesting background details and biographies of Shakespeare's contemporaries which shed light on his influences and influence in his day. Wells's knowledge of the subject is encyclopaedic and hence fascinating.
Extremely worthwhile for any student/lover of the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatrical scenes.
Stanley Wells' "Shakespeare & Co." is the most delightful companion to the Elizabethan-Jacobean stage I know; or it would be if the plays it is meant to be a companion to were more accessible.

As it is, though short, every page is lively, and it is as full of matter as an egg is full of meat.

When I studied Shakespeare in school 40-odd years ago, he was presented as a solitary genius; and he still rules the performing stage. Although Wells, as chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and a quondam professor at Birmingham, has seen occasional performances of plays by Middleton and Fletcher, I have never had the pleasure. Even reading them is expensive.

In ". . . & Co." (and, no, he never hints that he knows Sylvia Beach once ran a bookshop with that name), Wells sets out to, first, establish that the solitary genius sometimes worked with collaborators and, even when writing alone, was responding to other plays, and to actors and audiences -- the second part of this may seem obvious, but the first was akin to heresy when I was in college; and, second, to explain in what unShakespearian ways the other playwrights were also masters.

He sums up, "With the passing of the years, Shakespeare has too often been isolated from his fellows. He is the greatest of them, but he would not have been what he is without them. As a playwright, he developed in technique and in the capacity to convey the depths of his human understanding throughout his career."

Wells throws in everything including the kitchen sink. There will be a page of close textual analysis, followed by a page of antique gossip, followed by a page about stagecraft, followed by a page about performance history. All deeply informed and sometimes so obvious as to be missed. For example, Wells observes (not claiming to be the first to have done so) that all Shakespeare's late plays about familial conflict end in reconciliation.

This was certainly not true of other popular playwrights, like Webster.

I have often thought that the assiduity of scores, perhaps hundreds, of scholars doing "research" by ransacking old books and papers for themes and attributions, that the spending of years to show that a line in Shakespeare came, directly or otherwise, from a book published by someone never read today, was silly. Wells shows that, at least sometimes, the connections have point.

Whether the points really enhance the play, which is, after all, the thing, is another matter; but in his hands the hunt doesn't seem quite so trivial.

As for accessibility, cheap editions of Shakespeare are to be had for pennies, but editions of his contemporaries are expensive. For example, Middleton's "A Game at Chess" is $27 in the Revels edition, and his complete works are $200. A reasonable collection of just the plays mentioned by Wells in "Shakespeare & Co." would run at least a thousand dollars.

They might be worth it, at that, but not everyone has a thousand for such pleasures.
Will and his pals could be another title for this interesting book. Centered in Sheakespere, this book presents an overview of the most prominent writers,actors and companies at that time, exploring the myriads of collaborations, intersections of strong collaborative work - the theatre. How it was managed, how plays were written and acted, how the audience reacted, all is touched. Certainly Shakespeare was the star, but rather the most brilliant and enduring star in a constellation of bright man.
Excellent read for those who love Shakespeare AND for those who want to know more about Shakespeare's contemporaries. Shakespeare was a mere mortal when he died, surrounded by contemporaries who were extremely talented. Jonson excelled at comedy, Marlowe at tragedy, some history, lots of gore. Some you may not have heard of, but all produced works worthy of praise heaped on Shakespeare. Shakespeare was exemplary in that he excelled in EVERYTHING--comedy, tragedy, history, long form poetry, sonnets...while each of these men specialized. This book will make you want to chase down Marlowe's plays as well as others.