An edition of The Duchess of Malfi (1640)

The Duchess of malfi

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Last edited by MARC Bot
August 14, 2021 | History
An edition of The Duchess of Malfi (1640)

The Duchess of malfi

  • 4.00 ·
  • 1 Rating
  • 17 Want to read
  • 1 Currently reading
  • 3 Have read

"The Duchess of Malfi" was published in 1623, but the date of writing may have been as early as 1611. It is based on a story in Painter's "Palace of Pleasure," translated from the Italian novelist, Bandello; and it is entirely possible that it has a foundation in fact. In any case, it portrays with a terrible vividness one side of the court life of the Italian Renaissance; and its picture of the fierce quest of pleasure, the recklessness of crime, and the worldliness of the great princes of the Church finds only too ready corroboration in the annals of the time.

Of John Webster's life almost nothing is known. The dates 1580-1625 given for his birth and death are conjectural inferences, about which the best that can be said is that no known facts contradict them.The first notice of Webster so far discovered shows that he was collaborating in the production of plays for the theatrical manager, Henslowe, in 1602, and of such collaboration he seems to have done a considerable amount. Four plays exist which he wrote alone, "The White Devil," "The Duchess of Malfi," "The Devil's Law-Case," and "Appius and Virginia."

Webster's tragedies come toward the close of the great series of tragedies of blood and revenge, in which "The Spanish Tragedy" and "Hamlet" are landmarks, but before decadence can fairly be said to have set in. He, indeed, loads his scene with horrors almost past the point which modern taste can bear; but the intensity of his dramatic situations, and his superb power of flashing in a single line a light into the recesses of the human heart at the crises of supreme emotion, redeems him from mere sensationalism, and places his best things in the first rank of dramatic writing.

Publish Date
Publisher
Chatto & Windus
Language
English
Pages
223

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi
1997, Manchester University Press, Distributed exclusively in the USA by St Martin's Press, Inc
in English
Cover of: The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi
1993, A & C Black
in English - 3rd ed.
Cover of: The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi
1987, Longman
in English
Cover of: The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi
1969, Methuen
in English
Cover of: The Duchess of Malfi
Cover of: The Duchess of Malfi.
The Duchess of Malfi.
1960, Barron's Educational Series
in English
Cover of: The Duchess of malfi
The Duchess of malfi
1958, Chatto & Windus
in English
Cover of: The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi
1953, AHM Pub. Corp.
in English
Cover of: The Duchess of Malfi

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Book Details


Published in

London

Edition Notes

"Reprinted, with revisions and additions from the complete works of John Webster (1927)"

Includes bibliographical references (p. [9]-12).

The Physical Object

Pagination
223 p.
Number of pages
223

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL32989324M
Internet Archive
duchessofmalfi0000webs

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History

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August 14, 2021 Created by MARC Bot Imported from Internet Archive item record.