Thomas Middleton in Context: (Literature in Context)

The redefinition of the Thomas Middleton canon has led to an explosion of interest in this quintessential Jacobean. Middleton's best-known plays, such as Women Beware Women and The Changeling, are now staged, filmed and rewritten for modern audiences. But Middleton also wrote religious poetry, satires, historical allegory, prose and less familiar plays, collaborating frequently, even with Shakespeare. His works are rooted in his historical and cultural environment, from the Overbury scandal to the fall of the boys' companies. Here, experts in literature, theatre, history, law and religion analyze the complex contexts of Middleton's works, clarifying debates over his religious and political affiliations. Divided into sections presenting new interpretations of the world in which Middleton wrote - as a Londoner, citizen, dramatist and early modern man - and concluding with a section on performance history, the essays cover the full range of his works, from the frequently performed to the newest attributions.

Table of Contents:
Middleton timeline Tripthi Pillai; Introduction Suzanne Gossett; Part I. Middleton and the London Context: 1. Thomas Middleton, chronologer of his time Mark Hutchings; 2. Middleton's comedy and the geography of London Darryll Grantley; 3. The Puritan Widow and the spatial arts of Middleton's urban drama Andrew Gordon; 4. The populations of London Ian Munro; 5. Domestic life in Jacobean London Catherine Richardson; 6. Life and death in Middleton's London Elizabeth Furdell; 7. The city's money: made, lost, stolen, lent, invested Aaron W. Kitch; 8. Trade, work, and workers Natasha Korda; 9. Supplying the city Ceri Sullivan; 10. Celebrating the city Karen Newman; 11. Violence and the city Jennifer Low; 12. Middleton and the law Subha Mukherji; Part II. The National and International Context: 13. The court Alastair Bellany; 14. States and their pawns: political tensions from the Armada to the Thirty Years War Thomas Cogswell; 15. Religious identities Ian Archer; 16. The obsession with Spain Trudi Darby; Part III. The Theatrical Context: 17. The social cartography of Middleton's theatres Andrew Gurr; 18. The boys' plays and the boy players David Kathman; 19. The adult companies and the dynamics of commerce Roslyn L. Knutson; 20. The theatre and political control Janet Clare; 21. Music on the Jacobean stage Linda Austern; Part IV. The Context and Conditions of Authorship: 22. Middleton and 'modern use': case studies in the language of A Chaste Maid in Cheapside Sylvia Adamson with Hannah Kirby, Laurence Peacock and Elizabeth Pearl; 23. Collaboration: the shadow of Shakespeare James Bednarz; 24. Collaboration: sustained Heather Hirschfeld; 25. Collaboration: Middleton and the determination of authorship Eric Rasmussen; 26. Middleton and dramatic genre Suzanne Gossett; 27. Writing outside the theatre Alison A. Chapman; 28. Medieval remains in Middleton's writings Anke Bernau; Part V. Social and Psychological Contexts: 29. Gender and sexuality Caroline Bicks; 30. Women's life stages: maid, wife, widow (whore) Jennifer Panek; 31. Playing, disguise, and identity Farah Karim-Cooper; 32. Drugs, remedies, poisons, and the theatre Tanya Pollard; 33. Middleton and the supernatural Michael Neill; 34. 'Distracted measures': madness and theatricality in Middleton Carol Thomas Neely; Part VI. Afterlives: 35. Invisible Middleton and the bibliographical context Sonia Massai; 36. Afterlives: stages and beyond Diana E. Henderson; 37. Middleton in the cinema Pascale Aebischer; 38. Middleton's presence Simon Palfrey; Works cited.

About the Author :
Suzanne Gossett is Professor of English at Loyola University Chicago. She has edited Middleton's A Fair Quarrel for the Oxford Middleton, Shakespeare and Wilkins' Pericles for the Arden Shakespeare and Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster for Arden Early Modern Drama. She is a General Editor of Arden Early Modern Drama and, with Gordon McMullan, General Textual Editor for the Norton Shakespeare 3.

Review :
".. is a fine collection, its thirty-eight short, well-illustrated chapters giving a variety of new perspectives." -- Studies in English Literature