Book Description
This edition brings together Marston's five major plays in one volume. Included here are Antonio and Mellida, Antonio's Revenge, The Malcontent, Measure for Measure, The Dutch Courtesan,andSophonisba. Under the general Editorship of Michael Cordner , the texts of the plays have been newly
edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. This edition provides a critical introduction based on an informed understanding of the texts as scripts for the stage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A quirky genius
Marston is among the first rank of English Renaissance dramatists, right up there with Marlowe, Middleton, and Webster. His achievement, however, is not fully commensurate with his genius: his reputation rests largely on one play, the satire THE MALCONTENT, which helped establish the fad for "disguised ruler" plays in the early 17th century (including Shakespeare's MEASURE FOR MEASURE). The other four plays in this collection, however, are also consistently fascinating.

Marston is a rather anomalous figure in many ways; in the middle of a successful career as a dramatist, he became a clergyman and completely dissociated himself with the theater, even refusing to allow his name to be used on a printed collection of his plays. Unlike Middleton and Shakespeare, Marston wrote for the "boys'" acting company of St. Paul's Cathedral which used the indoor Blackfriars theater. Marston's works themselves are quite unique, blending tragedy and comedy in a highly satirical combination. His satirical perspective typifies the Jacobean period more than the Elizabethean. He has a real gift for language, with many very memorable lines. Another unusual feature of Marston's works is the many songs and musical interludes; the lyrics are included, but the music has been lost. This collection is essential reading for fans of Shakespeare and the English Renaissance. The introduction is highly intelligent and insightful, well worth reading.

The general editors of this series should be flogged, however, for using inconvenient endnotes instead of footnotes. Notes are essential, as Marston liked to sprinkle Latin quotations throughout the dialogue, but turning to the back five to ten times each page will drive a reasonable person crazy. The editors seem to take an adolescent pleasure in pointing out every single possible sexual reference. There are many of them, but the editors sometimes invent sexual references even where they don't exist. As Freud once said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. In any case, I don't need the editors to tell me of a sexual reference. If you have to explain it, the joke isn't funny.

Useful edition.Needed to be done.
Since Amazon.com can't be bothered to list the contents of all the books, I thought I'd be helpful:this one contains The Malcontent, Antonio and Mellida, Antonio's Revenge, The Dutch Courtesan, and Sophonisba. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Book Description
This edition brings five of Marston's most interesting plays together in a readable and helpful form. They are collected with modern spelling, full commentaries, textual notes and introductions, in texts newly edited from the original quartos. A survey of criticism of Marston is included. The edition of Sophonisba (a play highly praised by T. S. Eliot) is the first modernised text to appear in one hundred years. Another textual innovation is the relegation to an appendix of Webster's obtrusive additions to The Malcontent. Marston's plays have enjoyed popular revivals in English theatres over the last decade, and the authors' commentary is designed to alert readers to theatrical effects. The playwright's language is elucidated here far more fully than in any other collection. ... Read more

Book Description
THE WORKS JOHN MARS TON. UGPRINTEJ FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITIONS. WITH NOTES, AND SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE AND WKITING-S. sr J. O. HALLIWELL, F. R. S., F. S. A JN THEEE TO1TJJU. ES. VOL. I. LONDON JOHN EUSSELL SMITH SOHO SQUARE. 1856. PREFACE. few particulars have been recovered respect ing tlie life and personal character of JOHN MARSTON, whose dramatic and satirical writings are now for the first time collected together, it would be futile to attempt to promote them to the dignity of Biography. The circumstances known, or rather conjectured, respecting this author, for nearly all of which we are indebted to Antony a Wood, may be stated in a very few words. According to the Oxford biographer, John Marston, the dramatist, was a student in Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and was admitted Bachelor of Arts on the twenty-third of February, 1592 but, adds Wood, in what county he was born I can not yet find, because, 1st, that he was not matricu lated 2nd, that he was not scholar of that house, or Fellow, in the admissions of both which, their counties of nativity are constantly registered. Even this statement, however, appears to be formed upon a mere conjecture originating in the identity of name, not upon the authority of trustworthy information for he previously mentions a John Marston, son of a father of both his names, of the u PREFACE. City of Coventry esquire, who became either a com moner or a gentleman-commoner of Brasen-nose College in 15 91 3 and in the beginning of February, 1593, he was admitted Bachelor of Arts, as the eldest son of an esquire Jonson, in the Poetaster, expressly alludes to the respecta bility of Mansions birth and soon after compleating that degree by determination, he went his way, and improved his learning in other faculties. This John Marston died in June, 1634, and was buried near his father, some time a Counsellor of the Middle Temple, in the Temple Church in London, et under the stone which hath written on it, Olllmoni Sacrum Dugdale mentions a John Marston, who was appointed Lecturer of the Middle Temple in 1592, and who was probably the father referred to by Wood. It is remarked by Wood, that the person last named cannot be the dramatist, because the latter died before the publication of the collective edition of his plays in 1633 an observation which clearly shows that he was speaking somewhat at random, for that Marston was living in that year is proved by the dedication prefixed to the work by William Sheares, in which he is spoken of as being now in his autumn and declining age, and as being far distant from this place, meaning, the place of publication. This objection removed, there can. be but little doubt that the John Marston who was buried in the Temple Church in 1634 was really the eminent dramatist. According to Oldys, Marston sprung probably from a family of that name settled in Affccot , in Shropshire and he married PREFACE. vii Mary, daughter of the Hev. William Wilkes, Chaplain to James I., and Hector of St. Martins, co. Wilts. Now Wood, in a notice of Wilkes, says that the latter e died at Barford St. Martin, in Wiltshire, of which he was rector, leaving a daughter named Mary, who was married to John Marston of the city of Coventry, gentleman which John, dying 25 June, 1634, was buried in the church belonging to the Temple in London, near to the body of John Marston his father, sometimes a Counsellor of the Middle Temple. The John Marston in the first notice, and the son-in-law of the Kings Chaplain, are thus shown to be the same person. He is also the dramatic writer, unless another link in the chain of evidence be unnecessarily regarded as a curious but possible coincidence... ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Albion, published by North American Conference on British Studies on June 22, 2002. The length of the article is 1221 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Drama of John Marston: Critical Re-Visions. (Reviews of Books).(Book Review)
Author: Robert C. Evans
Publication: Albion (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2002
Publisher: North American Conference on British Studies
Volume: 34Issue: 2Page: 303(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Modern Language Review, published by Modern Humanities Research Association on July 1, 2003. The length of the article is 890 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Drama of John Marston: Critical Re-Visions.(Book Review)
Author: Martin Wiggins
Publication: The Modern Language Review (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 2003
Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association
Volume: 98Issue: 3Page: 683-684

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
Celebrating the 400th anniversary of John Marston's debut as a professional playwright, this collection of critical essays on his work discovers, in the decentered, hilarious, but unsettling work of this idiosyncratic Renaissance dramatist, an uncannily postmodern voice. The qualities that estranged Marston from previous critical eras are precisely those that are now instantly accessible and this volume's essays, by leading scholars in the early modern field, explore the full extent of Marston's ambiguity toward politics, gender and the very medium he wrote for and in. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Good Reading - Betrayals and Unexpected Twists
In 1601 John Marston, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and George Chapman were described as "the best and chiefest of our modern writers".Today, only English majors are likely to be acquainted with John Marston's works. Even his most popular play, The Malcontent (1604), is seldom encountered.

The Malcontent is often categorized as a revenge play, although it is quite unlike Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, or The Revenger's Tragedy (uncertain authorship).Even though deceit, betrayal, disguises, and attempted murders are essential elements of the plot, The Malcontent lacks the brutality that characterizes other Elizabethan and Jacobean revenge plays. Unexpectedly, as the play develops, Malevole, the disguised Duke of Genoa, shows some willingness to forgive others for their past injustices. The recovery and restoration of character becomes more important than revenge.

The Malcontent makes good reading. Cascading betrayals and unexpected twists maintained my interest throughout all five acts. Unlike many contemporaneous plays, the plot is not complicated by extraneous subplots.The action, although sometimes convoluted, is all tightly connected.All in all, I found the The Malcontent to be easier reading than most Elizabethan and Jacobean plays.

Induction: Act I is preceded by an Induction by John Webster, a six page witty discussion among five of the Globe Theatre actors (including Richard Burbage) regarding the author's intentions and recent modifications to the play itself. Apparently, The Malcontent had been previously staged by a rival theatre, the Children of the Queen's Revels at Blackfriars. While of interest to scholars in unraveling the early history of Marston's play, this induction is not germane to the plot itself.

Staging: In the introduction Bernard Harris, the editor of the New Mermaids edition, describes The Malcontent as "a theatrically ambitious and bewilderingly active play, rich in details of staging."Scenes require attendants, pages, lights, ladies, processions, music, dancing, costumes, jewelry, feasts, and even the devising of a masque.

A Fun Play!
Malevole, the title character of Marston's masterpiece, has good reason to be a malcontent: he is the disguised, deposed rightful ruler of Genoa. The play is a collection of intrigues, questions as to who knows what about whom, and disguises. It is a great joy to read and one of my favorite pieces of Renaissance literature.

The New Mermaid edition is very nice, with a good introduction, but the language has been modernized more than in most editions. ... Read more

Book Description
A study of the important 17th century playwright and poet. An in-depth analysis of the plays plus a biographical essay.

THIS TITLE IS CITED AND RECOMMENDED BY:Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. ... Read more