The White Devil
The White Devil

Author: John Webster

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 490

ISBN-13:

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This volume offers John Webster's two great Jacobean tragedies, The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, together with his brilliant tragicomedy, The Devil's Law-Case, and the comedy written with William Rowley, A Cure for a Cuckold. Webster is a radically and creatively experimental dramatist. His tragedies deploy shifting dramatic perspectives which counteract and challenge conventional moral judgements, while the predominantly gentler tone of his comedies and tragicomedies responds inventively to contemporary changes in dramatic taste and fashion. All four plays display the provocative intelligence of a profoundly original playwright. Under the General Editorship of Michael Cordner of the University of York, the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, there is detailed annotation, a glossary, and a critical introduction which traces Webster's artistic development, defends him against charges of overindulgence in violence, and explores his sophisticated staging and scenic forms.

The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi

Author: John Webster

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 1997-06-15

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9780719043574

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More widely studied and more frequently performed than ever before, John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi is here presented in an accessible and thoroughly up-to-date edition. Based on the Revels Plays text, the notes have been augmented to cast further light both on Webster's amazing dialogue and on the stage action. An entirely new introduction sets the tragedy in the context of pre-Civil War England and gives a revealing view of its imagery and dramatic action. From its well-documented early performances to the two productions seen in the West End of London in the 1995-96 season, a stage history gives an account of the play in performance. Students, actors, directors and theatre-goers will all find here a reappraisal of Webster's artistry in the greatest age of English theatre, which highlights why it has lived on stage with renewed force in the last decades of the twentieth century.

The Art of John Webster
The Art of John Webster

Author: Ralph Berry

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-01-29

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 1317311280

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The Art of John Webster, first published in 1972, is a study of the three extant plays of Webster known to be solely his work. These plays are seen as attempts to achieve in literature the effects of the baroque, a term which related Webster to the larger developments of European art. Their content is analysed in terms of a consistent opposition between evil and the law. The book seeks to re-establish a base for the claims that must be made for Webster as a serious artist. This title will be of interest to students of literature and drama.

Skull Beneath the Skin
Skull Beneath the Skin

Author: Charles R. Forker

Publisher: SIU Press

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 634

ISBN-13: 9780809312795

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Webster was much possessed by death And saw the skull beneath the skin; And breastless creatures under ground Leaned backward with a lipless grin. These lines from T. S. Eliot’s "Whispers of Immortality” provide Charles R. Forker with the title for the most sub­stantial and detailed examination of John Webster to date; they also identify a ma­jor theme--the love-death nexus in Re­naissance drama and its special relevance to Webster. Forker summarizes what is known about Webster’s life and analyzes in de­tail not only the major plays but also the lesser ones. He examines The White De­vil, The Duchess of Malfi, and The Devil’s Law-Case in context with the minor and collaborative works, tracing themes, stylistic features, and ideas through the entire Webster canon. One reviewer of the manuscript notes that "Forker is surely unrivalled as an authority on matters Websterian. His book treats Webster with an unhurried fullness and richness rarely accorded even to Shakespeare.” Another calls the book "Splendid. Readable and engaging.”