Artikelomschrijving

Thomas Kyd as highly influential and popular revenge play is now available in a richly documented and critically engaging Norton Critical Edition. The freshly edited and annotated text comes with a full introduction and illustrative materials intended for student readers. The Spanish Tragedy was well known to sixteenth-century audiences, and its central elementsùa play-within-a-play and a ghost bent on revengeùare widely believed to have influenced Shakespeare as Hamlet. This volume includes a generous selection of supporting materials, among them Kyd as likely sources (Virgil, Jacques Yver, and the anonymous The Earl of Leicester Betrays His Own Servantö), Thomas Nashe as satiric criticism of Kyd, Michel de Montaigne and Francis Bacon on revenge, and The Ballad of The Spanish Tragedy,ö which suggests the play as initial reception. Criticismö is thematically organized to provide readers with a clear sense of the play as major themes. Contributors include Michael Hattaway, Jonas A. Barish, Donna B. Hamilton, G. K. Hunter, Lorna Hutson, Molly Smith, J. R. Mulryne, T. McAlindon, and Andrew Sofer. A Selected Bibliography is also included.