Ein anders unfester Text

Printed anonymously in 1587, the henceforth immensely successful Historia von D. Johann Fausten is both a textual and a narratologic provocation. This is brought about by the polyphony of sources and genres compiled by its author which do not produce a homogeneous whole. But it is also the result of a specific, hybrid conception of text and narration, which intendedly creates ambiguity and scatters irritation everywhere. A valid interpretation is thereby sheerly impossible, which presumably is the most significant reason for the long and controversial discussions among readers and re-tellers, running from Christopher Marlowe (1592) and the Wagnerbuch (1593) up to Thomas Mann’s Doktor Faustus (1947). This article explores some essential textual aspects of this inexhaustible narrative, such as the discursive and hermeneutic predominance of intradiegetic instances (first of all Mephostophiles) and the decommissioning of the narrator by inserted documents, transtextual references, and primarily by paratexts which almost lead a life of their own on the margins of the story in a proper sense. In this way, the text gets fluid, and its reception becomes an endless search for a coherent meaning which isn’t right there.

Kirk Melnikoff and Roslyn Knutson eds. Christopher Marlowe, Theatrical Commerce, and the Book Trade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp 313.

Laurie Maguire's Review of Christopher Marlowe, Theatrical Commerce, and the Book Trade, edited by Kirk Melnikoff and Roslyn Knutson.

Imitação ou colaboração? Marlowe e o cânone shakespeareano inicial

Este artigo emprega estudos de atribuição de autoria para propor que é possíveldistinguir um dramaturgo trabalhando conjuntamente com outro (em colaboração) de um que emprega recursos linguísticos reconhecíveis de outro poeta (imitação). Partindo do pressuposto de que a identidade é celular e sistêmica enquanto a imitação é seletiva e semiótica, verifica-se três trechos de Henrique VI Parte I, na qual William Shakespeare e Christopher Marlowe trabalharam colaborativamente.

The Shakespeare Authorship Question: A Case Study in Bourdieuian Class Maintenance

Dozens of papers and books have been written on the subject of the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays. Calling into question the probability or even the possibility of the man named Shakespeare being the true author, ‘anti-stratfordians’ have made the case for such authorship candidates as Christopher Marlowe, Sir Francis Bacon, Queen Elizabeth I, and Edward de Vere the Earl of Oxford. The body of evidence supporting Shakespeare’s authorship is convincing but not conclusive and the question continues to produce passionate responses from both pro- and anti-Shakespearean supporters. The doubter’s motives within the ongoing debate have only been explored incidentally as a function of discrediting the argument against Shakespeare. If the answer to the question is unprovable, why has it continued to be asked? The Shakespeare Authorship Question has been motivated by elitist sensibilities, personal ambition, academic insecurity, and a form of worship called bardolatry.

Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta, ed. William H. Sherman and Chloe Preedy (London: Bloomsbury, 2021); Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta, ed. Lloyd Edward Kermode (New York: Norton, 2021)

A review of two editions of The Jew of Malta newly published in 2021.

L’IMAGE D’AMIR TIMOUR DANS LA DRAMATURGIE DE L’EUROPE OCCIDENTALE

Le but de recherches consiste en étude des particularités de tragédies sur Amir Timour crées et mises en scène en Europe occidentale aux XVIXX siècles, de leur sources, la vérité historique et la fiction artistique. Ce sont "Tamburlaine the Great" de Christopher Marlowe, "Tamerlan ou la Mort de Bajazet" de Jacques Pradon, "Tamerlan, a Tragedy" de Nicolas Rowe, "Tamerlan" de Lucien Kehren et autres. La nouvauté scientifique de recherche est en fait que les originaux des différentes tragédies sur Tamerlan créees dans les littératures de l’Europe de l’Ouest durant les XVI-XX siècles, sont analysés du point de vue philologique, leur particularités et généralités sont déterminés pour la première fois. Les résultats obtenus: La vie de mythe est plus dure que l’approche historique: si en Europe tout le monde a entendu le nom de Tamerlan peu connaissent son oeuvre et encore moins savent que son vrai nom est Amir Timur, nos recherches permettent donc de progresser dans la connaissance d’un personnage historique qui aura marqué l’Occident comme l’Orient. Conclusion: Il aura falut attendre les festivités du 660e anniversaire d’Amir Timour pour permettre aux spectateurs d’Ouzbékistan la découverte de ces belles oeuvres, mise en scène par les troupes des Théâtre National d’Opéra et de Ballet de Tachkent et Théâtre dramatique de Samarkand.