Christopher Marlowe in Context

A contemporary of William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe was one of the most influential early modern dramatists, whose life and mysterious death have long been the subject of critical and popular speculation. This collection sets Marlowe's plays and poems in their historical context, exploring his world and his wider cultural influence. Chapters by leading international scholars discuss both his major and lesser-known works. Divided into three sections, 'Marlowe's works', 'Marlowe's world', and 'Marlowe's reception', the book ranges from Marlowe's relationship with his own audience through to adaptations of his plays for modern cinema. Other contexts for Marlowe include history and politics, religion and science. Discussions of Marlowe's critics and Marlowe's appeal today, in performance, literature and biography, show how and why his works continue to resonate; and a comprehensive further reading list provides helpful suggestions for those who want to find out more.

'The present volume is a major addition to the study of Marlowe and is essential reading.' M. L. Stapleton, Renaissance Quarterly

Emily C. Bartels is Professor of English at Rutgers University and Director of the Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College. Author of Spectacles of Strangeness: Imperialism, Alienation, and Marlowe (1993) (which won the Roma Gill award for Best Work on Christopher Marlowe, 1993–4) and Speaking of the Moor: From Alcazar to Othello (2008), and editor of Critical Essays on Christopher Marlowe (1997), she has also published articles on race, gender, survivorship, and early modern drama and is at work on a new project on Shakespearean intertextuality. Emma Smith teaches at Hertford College, University of Oxford, and is the author of a range of works on Shakespeare and early modern drama, including The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare (2007) and The Cambridge Shakespeare Guide (2012). She has contributed numerous articles to publications including Shakespeare Studies and Shakespeare Survey and her iTunesU lectures on Shakespeare and on other early modern plays have been downloaded more than 300,000 times.