Radical Tragedy

JONATHAN DOLLIMORE was formerly Professor of English at the University of York, UK. His books include Political Shakespeare: Essays in Cultural Materialism (with Alan Sinfield, 1985, 2nd ed 1994), Sexual Dissidence: Augustine to Wilde, Freud to Foucault (1991), Death, Desire and Loss in Western Culture (1998), and Sex, Literature and Censorship (2000).

Praise for the third edition: 'Some critical studies are full of insight, but not many of them are necessary. Radical Tragedy ranks among the necessary critical interventions of our time.' - From the Foreword by Terry Eagleton 'Prefaced by a powerful, provocative essay that brings its argument bang up to date, this splendid new edition of Radical Tragedy puts its status as a classic of cultural-materialist criticism beyond question.' - Kiernan Ryan, Royal Holloway University of London, UK 'A welcome new edition of a path-breaking book complete with a brilliantly incisive and thought-provoking Introduction that will enthuse a new generation of students. With an iconoclastic energy all too rare in academic circles, Dollimore fearlessly revalues his own project, and poses questions central to the larger critical, cultural and philosophical debates within English Studies, to which Radical Tragedy continues to make a major scholarly contribution.' - John Drakakis, University of Stirling, UK Reviews of second edition: '[an] outstanding piece of scholarship. Very useful, very influential, very well-written. In short, well worth having.' - Amazon.co.uk 'Stands as a major re-interpretation of Renaissance drama and a pioneering critical work.' - Book News 'An indispensable addition to an already indispensable book, which throws new light on the genisis of Radical Tragedy and upon the full range of interdisciplinary concerns which have acted both as a stimulus to, and as the rigorous intellectual mainstays of, its revolutionary thesis.' - John Drakakis, University of Stirling, UK 'A courageous, stimulating book which everybody interested in its subject must read.' - Christopher Hill, Literature and History 'I put this book right at the top. I read it with excitement and sustained interest throughout.' - David Bevington, University of Chicago, USA

• AcknowledgementsForeword; T.EagletonPreface to the Reissued Third EditionIntroduction to the Third EditionIntroduction to the Second EditionPART I: RADICAL DRAMA: ITS CONTEXTS AND EMERGENCEContextsEmergence: Marston's Antonio Plays (c.15991601) and Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida (c.1601-2)PART II: STRUCTURE, MIMESIS, PROVIDENCEStructure: From Resolution to DislocationRenaissance Literary Theory: Two Concepts of MimesisThe Disintegration of Providentialist BeliefDr Faustus(c.1589-92): Subversion Through TransgressionMustapha (c.1594-6): Ruined Aesthetic, Ruined TheologySejanus (1603): History and RealpolitikThe Revenger's Tragedy (c.1606): Providence, Parody and Black CampPART III: MAN DECENTREDSubjectivity and Social ProcessBussy D'Ambois (c.1604): A Hero at CourtKing Lear (c.1605-6) and Essentialist HumanismAntony and Cleopatra (c.1607): Virtus under ErasureCoriolanus (c.1608): The Chariot Wheel and its DustThe White Devil (1612): Transgression Without VirtuePART IV: SUBJECTIVITY: IDEALISM VERSUS MATERIALISMBeyond Essentialist HumanismNotesBibliography of Work CitedIndex of Names and TextsIndex of Subjects.