Synopses & Reviews
The Revenge Tragedy flourished in Britain during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The classic ingredients of the genre are a quest for vengeance, mad scenes, a play within a play, and carnage. Each of the four plays here subverts the genre, and deals with fundamental moral questions about justice and the individual, while registering the strains of life in an increasingly fragile social hierarchy. This edition includes Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, the anonymous The Revenger's Tragedy (variously ascribed to Cyril Tourneur and Thomas Middleton), The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois by George Chapman, and Tourneur's The Atheist's Tragedy.
Review
"Raitt's excellent study captures the vital spark of this love affair behind both writers' published work."--Weekend Telegraph
"It seems to me remarkable that someone who never knew Vita and Virginia can understand them so much better than me, who knew both well....A marvel of condensation and commitment."--Nigel Nicolson
"An extensive, serious, much-needed treatment of Sackville-West's writing....One of the book's strengths is its effectively and succinctly uniting literary and psychological analysis."--English Literature in Transition 1880-1920
Review
"A provocative selection with incisive apparatus."--Gale H. Carrithers, Jr., Louisiana State University
About the Author
Katharine Maus is Associate Professor of English at the University of Virginia.