Doctor Faustus (New Mermaids) - Softcover

Christopher Marlowe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0713673761 ISBN 13: 9780713673760

Publisher: Methuen Drama, 2008

Synopsis

'...make me immortal with a kiss' Doctor Faustus is a play about desire: for the best in life, for knowledge, power, material comfort, and influence. Faustus sells his soul to the devil hoping to learn the secrets of the universe, but is fobbed off with explanations which he knows to be inadequate. He is obsessed with fame, but his achievement as a devil-assisted celebrity magician is less substantial than it was previously as a scholar. Marlowe's most famous play is a tragedy, but also extremely funny. It involves hideous representations of the Seven Deadly Sins, and of Helen of Troy, the world's most beautiful woman. With its fireworks and special effects, it was one of the most spectacular and popular on the Elizabethan stage. Yet, ever since Marlowe's death, it has been regularly rewritten. Its mix of fantastical story, slapstick, and raw human emotion still arouses conflicting interpretations, and presents us with endlessly fascinating problems. This student edition is based on the earlier so-called A-text of the play, with the B-text scenes included in an appendix. It contains a lengthy Introduction with interpretation of the play in its historical and cultural context, stage history, discussion of the complex textual problems, and background on the author, date and sources.

About this title

Review:

"Michael Keefer's revised edition of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus is now all the more an indispensable text for students, teachers, and scholars of early modern English drama. It combines immense learning with perfect clarity and accessibility. It gives us a solidly reconceived text and also a brilliant historical introduction that fills each line of this strange and moving play with the sounds of a world in intellectual and religious crisis." --Paul Yachnin

Book Description:

A modern retelling of Marlowe's play

About this edition

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0713673761
• ISBN 13: 9780713673760
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160
• Editor: Ros King, Roma Gill