Shakespeare and the Drama of His Time

Book excerpt: 'Extremely informative... There are some nice touches here, and Wiggins is good on the effects of the cultural shifts that he describes, making telling comparisons such as: 'To the Elizabethans, Marlowe's plays must have had all the aural impact of a symphony orchestra taking over from a barrel-organ'.' -Modern Language Review'Oxford University Press offer a mix of engagingly written introductions to a variety of Topics intended largely for undergraduates. Each author has clearly been reading and listening to the most recent scholarship, but they wear their learning lightly.' -Ruth Morse, Times Literary Supplement'Provides a superb, concise, and approachable overview of Shakespeare's contextual place among the plays and playwrights of early modern London.' -Sixteenth Century JournalOxford Shakespeare Topics (General Editors Peter Holland and Stanley Wells) provide students, teachers, and interested readers with short books on important aspects of Shakespeare criticism and scholarship, including some general anthologies relating to Shakespeare. This book examines the plays of Shakespeare in their context as part of English Renaissance drama as a whole. Separate chapters deal with the origins of that drama; tragedy; comedy; the artistic conventions of play-writing in the period; and tragicomedy. Throughout, Shakespeare's plays are shown to be intimately associated with those of his contemporaries, notably Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, George Chapman, Ben Jonson, John Marston, and John Fletcher.