Review in Shakespeare Bookshop newsletter Dec. 2007 [PDF]
Middleton at the Globe [Article]
[download
Dr. Taylor's lecture]
Gary Taylor on the resurgence of Thomas Middleton, The
Orphan Playwright. Guardian Unlimited Arts. November 17,
2007
Middleton was never knighted. The
Times [PDF] has mistakenly made
him "Sir Thomas Middleton" through confusion with
his namesake the Lord Mayor for which he wrote "The Triumphs
of Truth".
TIME Magazine Online
Thomas
Middleton: For Adults Only
"It is hard to exaggerate the scale of the Oxford Middleton
particularly
since this is the kind of scholarship which is--in its diversity
and
eclecticism--designed to open up debate rather than close
it off. It is
a colossal achievement representing a decisive expansion of
Renaissance studies which will percolate throughout scholarship
and teaching. But what is, perhaps, most exciting, is that
the collection must surely generate a rediscovery of these
eminently stageable plays in the theatre."
-
Andrew James Hartley
Editor, Shakespeare Bulletin
Director, Shakespeare in Action Center, University of North
Carolina, Charlotte.
'The publication of The Complete Works of Middleton will be
a major event for all those who care about the theatre of
Shakespeare's time. The scholarship is meticulous, the commentary
is fascinating and the international team of experts displays
the field of Renaissance Drama studies at its finest. In modern
times, productions of The Changeling and Women Beware Women
have shown the dark side of sex and power that Shakespeare
touched on but never fully explored. The Complete Works now
shows us the full range of Middleton's talent for comedy and
social drama and, controversially, the full extent of his
collaboration with and development of Shakespeare's plays.
'
- Kathleen
E. McLuskie, Director, The Shakespeare Institute
All of us who care deeply about the history of English drama
welcome with great enthusiasm and excitement the publication
of the Collected Works of Thomas Middleton, a major achievement
in textual scholarship that represents the collective expertise
and critical wisdom of scholars from all over the world. Gary
Taylor and his many collaborators have given us a new and
remarkably versatile Thomas Middleton—a great tragic
playwright, a brilliant creator of sly and cynical urban comedies,
a thoroughly gifted man of the theater and citizen of London.
With this massive collected edition, the history of English
drama is much more complete and we can hope for many more
professional productions of these neglected plays.
-Gail Kern Paster, Director, Folger
Shakespeare Library
The Oxford Middleton is a monumental achievement. Gary Taylor
and his team of scholars have managed to do for Thomas Middleton
what Heminges and Condell did for Shakespeare in the 1623
First Folio: they’ve collected a great playwright’s
work in a landmark edition, one that enables us to appreciate
afresh an extraordinary literary career. Taken together, The
Collected Works of Thomas Middleton and its companion volume
Thomas Middleton and Early Modern Textual Culture, provide
an essential guide to matters at the heart of the English
literary world in the early seventeenth century, from authorship
and collaboration to censorship, civic pageantry, and the
London book trade.
-James
Shapiro, author of 1599: A Year in the Life of William
Shakespeare and Professor of English, Columbia University
'Few editorial projects have been as eagerly anticipated as
the Oxford Middleton, which will utterly transform how we
understand early modern drama, both in the classroom and in
our research. As with Shakespeare, Gary Taylor and his team
have set a new gold standard for textual editing and interpretive
criticism, leaping from the 19th century to the 21st - finally
an edition that captures Middleton's tremendous accomplishments.'
- Henry
Turner, Rutgers University, New Jersey, author of The
English Renaissance Stage: Geometry, Poetics, and the Practical
Spatial Arts, 1580-1630 (Oxford, 2006)
|
