ENGL8300: Sem Renaissance (62686)

Iyengar, Sujata

R 2 :20 PM

Park Hall 0067

ENGL 8300
Seminar in Renaissance Literature:  Imagining Kit Marlowe

How do novelists, screenwriters, and playwrights reimagine the life and work of Shakespeare’s great rival and co-author, Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), scribbler, spy, and “sodomite”?

Investigate fictionalized ways of describing and imagining Marlowe’s sexuality and espionage career through Marlowe’s plays and alleged confessions alongside drama, fiction, and creative non-fiction about Marlowe from the 1960s to the present.

 

Readings and Viewings:

 

Plays by Christopher Marlowe: Edward II; Dido, Queen of Carthage; Tamburlaine, Parts 1 and 2; Dr. Faustus; The Jew of Malta.

We'll also read his supposed “confession,” known as “The Baines Note.”

 

Adaptations:

 

Liz McDuffy Adams, Born With Teeth (2022):

https://www.theatricalrights.com/show/born-with-teeth/ (digital and print editions available)

Bertolt Brecht, Edward II (1924, transl. 1966, reserve)

Charles Nichols, The Reckoning (1992, reserve)

Derek Jarman, Edward II (1991, film, evening or out-of-class screening)

Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man in Deptford (1992): ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0786703210

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0786703210

Ben Elton, Upstart (comedy, BBC, ongoing, streaming; some episodes)

Ros Barber, The Marlowe Papers (2012): ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250044804

  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250044808

Additional texts on reserve and can be added according to student interest.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Christopher_Marlowe#/media/File:Christopher_Marlowe.jpg