Rowland Wymer - Böcker

The reputation of Webster and Ford is based on a handful of tragedies which display extreme situations and emotional intensity. Productions since 1945 have helped to vindicate the enthusiastic judgement of 19th-century Romantic critics and demonstrated that these plays retain their capacity to disturb audiences, arousing strong responses of both horror and pity. The author outlines the careers of both dramatists and illuminates the Jacobean and Caroline theatre contexts. It includes a detailed analysis of six plays, emphasizing their emotional power and theatrical effectiveness, and makes frequent references to modern performances. The plays considered include "The White Devil", "The Duchess of Malfi" and "'Tis Pity She's a Whore".

This book gives detailed and original critical readings of all eleven of Derek Jarman's feature-length films, arguing that he occupies a major and influential place in European and world cinema rather than merely being a cult figure. It places particular emphasis on the importance of Renaissance art and literature for Jarman, and emphasises his interest in Jungian psychology. Wymer shows how Jarman used his films to take his audience with him on an inner journey in search of the self, whilst remaining fully aware of the dangers of such a journey. Making substantial use of Jarman's unpublished papers as well as all his published works, Wymer argues that the films are orientated towards a much wider audience than is often supposed. They are addressed to anyone, of whatever gender or sexuality, who is prepared to go on a journey in search of him or her self and to become Jarman's accomplice in 'the dream world of the soul'.

Essays on English Renaissance culture make a major contribution to the debate on historical method.For nearly two decades, Renaissance literary scholarship has been dominated by various forms of postmodern criticism which claim to expose the simplistic methodology of `traditional' criticism and to offer a more sophisticated view of the relation between literature and history; however, this new approach, although making scholars more alert to the political significance of literary texts, has been widely criticised on both methodological and theoretical grounds. The revisionist essays collected in this volume make a major contribution to the modern debate on historical method, approaching Renaissance culture from different gender perspectives and a variety of political standpoints, but all sharing an interest in the interdisciplinary study of the past.ROBIN HEADLAM WELLS is Professor of English, University of Surrey Roehampton; GLENN BURGESS is Professor of History, University of Hull; ROWLAND WYMER is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Hull. Contributors: GLENN BURGESS, STANLEY STEWART, BLAIR WORDEN, ANDREW GURR, KATHARINE EISAMAN MAUS, ROWLAND WYMER, GRAHAM PARRY, MALCOLM SMUTS, STEVEN ZWICKER, HEATHER DUBROW,ROBIN HEADLAM WELLS.