Marlowe deserves credit for even trying to write a sequel to Homer's Trojan War. Jupiter (or Zeus) offers a powerful opening when he promises to aid the survivng Trojans including Aeneas. The triangle between Dido, Aneas, and Iarbus serves to keep us in suspense. The regrouping of the survivng Trojans is a memorable scene. Aeneas' telling of the war in 2.1 is dramatic and powerful. (Especially when he blames himself for allowing the Trojan Horse into their gates.) Juno (or Hera) is chilling as the venomous woman she usually is. Iarbas and Anna draw sympathy as victims of unrequited love. The tragic parting of Aeneas and Dido is quite moving, and the triple suicide of Dido, Iarbas, and Anna is a sorrowful, chilling, and yet beautifully done ending. Only Marlowe could follow up Homer's Trojan War with a sequel of this outstanding quality!

James Shapiro is a professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, NYC. His particular skill lies in framing aesthetics within their social and historical contexts. This is evidenced by recent works such as 'Shakespeare and the Jews', a treatment of 'The Merchant of Venice', which takes its starting point not in the sixteenth-century, as one might expect, but with the expulsion of Jews in England in the late thirteenth-century; and 'Oberammergau', an exposition of the latent anti-Semitic prejudices that inform and pervade the famous passion play of the same title.

'Rival Playwrights' was written prior to these texts. It does not possess their widespread appeal outside of hallowed university halls, nor their exigent elaboration of ever-present social inequalities through the prism of canonical literary texts.

But this is not a failure on the part of Shapiro or his research. As he implies in his work, the subjects of his study have each perpetuated his own lasting relevance - itself an admirable achievement: 'Rivals with each other, it is fair to say that they have not been rivaled since.'

Every page of this book bears eloquent witness to Shapiro's respect for, and cogent awareness of, both the idiosyncrasies and the divergences between three contemporaries: Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and William Shakespeare. Some of the evidence that Shapiro employs for his case is tangential; for example, he refers to anecdotes popularized in taverns. Moreover, much of his evidence is conjectural, such as his examination of famous 'silences': for instance, why is it that Jonson frequently referred to Shakespeare in his writings (most famously in his eulogistic verse, where he celebrated his rival's transcendental appeal), when Shakespeare apparently remained silent about Jonson?

However, we should recall Dr Samuel Johnson's insight that conjecture can be both harmless and helpful: 'There is no danger in conjecture, if it be proposed as conjecture; and while the text remains uninjured, those changes may be safely offered, which are not considered even by him that offers them as necessary or safe.'

Indeed, Shapiro's speculations are always grounded by his scrupulous readings of each playwright's works. Temperate, discerning and critically engaged, his analysis is intellectually rigorous and therefore can be demanding to read, but as always, it is a scholarly breath of fresh air.

While Empson's posthumous publication, "Faustus and the Censor," first came out in the 1980's, it remains a relevant document in Christopher Marlowe criticism. The oft-disputed authenticity of Marlowe's play "Doctor Faustus," and its two versions, the A and B-texts is the main focus of Empson's book. Empson begins with the beginning - Marlowe's sources, primarily the German Faust Book. Empson discusses the possible relationship with the translator of English Faust Book, a mysterious gentleman named 'P.F.' who may have provided Marlowe with information on German and Latin texts.

Empson's thesis is that the A text is the 'original' - but that its seeming inadequacies are due to the interference of the official censor of plays in the late 1500s. Scenes missing that Empson argues were removed for reasons of state and morality are an appearance of the chorus and an episode in a Turkish harem.

The censor, Empson argues, had three major problems with Marlowe's play that required change: 1)the women Faustus consorts with must be real women - because Anglican belief did not allow that devils could consort with humans. 2)Mephistopheles must be a devil - again, Anglicanism does not allow for middle spirits. 3)Faust must be punished eternally at the end of the play; apparently, the original version when acted, left some ambiguity about this issue.

Empson's "Faust and the Censor" tends to be somewhat repetitive on supporting these points. However, the repetition is done well, so that the points he makes are continuously reinforced and consistently developed. This is an engaging piece of literary criticism - the language is familiar, even colloquial, making the book an interesting and even entertaining read - very unusual in the field of literary criticism. I don't even like Marlowe, but Empson's style and substance make this a critical work worth checking out.

I do not feel this matches Marlowe's "Faustus," "Massacre At Paris," "Dido Queen of Carthage," or "Edward II." But it does have some memorable features. At first, Barabas is a sympathetic character, but like many of Marlowe's characters, he goes too far and becomes detestable. Barabas' daughter Abigail is a striking figure. She initially feels sorry for her father but later sees what he has become and falls victim to her father's wickedness. Her death as a Christain in 3.6 is memorable. Ithamore is convincing as a villain who knows no honor. Ferneze is fine as the hero who eventually restores order. It's not Marlowe's best play, but it is still worth some interest.

This collection is a travesty indeed. Great poems no doubt, but abysmally read. Furthermore they should have put all the introductions together separate and apart from the poems. It's nice to hear intros the first time around. But who wants to hear the intros everytime you listen to the poems? Sometimes I want to hear just a stream of poetry without any interuptions and this format makes that impossible. It's incredible that such a great concept could be so terribly executed.

I could not get this back to the store for a refund quickly enough. While the poem selection is great and the poem introductions are narrated well, the choice to use "modern poets" as the readers made this compilation utterly unlistenable. The only one that I found acceptable was Anthony Hect--the others were notably bad. In particular, I found Jorie Graham's "readings" to be abysmal. She reads each poem as if it were simply a string of unconnected words, giving equal stress to each, with halting pauses between them, never breaking out of a drowsy monotone. Other readers were not much better.

There are three major flaws in the readings:

1) The readers are no better than the average untrained person, and often much worse. (You've just got to hear them for yourself to appreciate how bad they are.)

2) Successive poems by the same poet are read by different "readers." It's jarring to hear 3 or 4 poems from Poet X, each in a wildly different voice.

3) No regard is given to matching the sex of the poet and reader. In general, it is really annoying to hear your favorite poet read by the wrong sex. In particular, making this mistake on "gender specific" poems (like having a woman read Poe's "Annabel Lee") is unforgivable.

Why is this all so upsetting? Because it is practically impossible to find poetry collections on CD, making this a serious waste of limited resources. If you are looking for a good collection on CD, buy "81 Famous Poems CD" by Audio Partners (ISBN 0-945353-82-0). It's a good collection on two CDs and is read by professionals: Alexander Scourby, Bramwell Fletcher, and Nancy Wickwire. In the meantime, we can only hope that the producers of this collection will eventually come to their senses and re-record the poems with the services of trained professionals.

If you are prepping for the GRE in literature or are trying to gain a basic understanding of literary periods and poets, this audio-collection is a must. It features a brief introduction about each poet's life. It also includes a brief introduction about the theme of each poem. The fact that you have to listen to these introductions before listening to the poem inculcate the poem and aids retention. If literature has turned into a cumbersome and overwhelming task, this collection will not only provide you with a sense of direction but will also make literature far more pleasurable.

I love Christopher Marlowe, and I am happy that this play did not discourage me from reading his "Dido Queen of Carthage," "Faustus," "Edward II," or "Massacre At Paris." In my opinion, "1 Tamburlaine" and "2 Tamburlaine" are interesting studies at best. I feel that too much of Marlowe's genious takes a back seat to bad humour. Furthermore, Tamburlaine himself lacks the malignant charm of Faustus. He also does not play on our sympathy like Edward II. Nor does he have chilling passages like Guise. The only possible reason I would give for reading this is that it was Marlowe's first effort. Also, the bad humour allows us to see the mentally disturbed side of Marlowe. My best advice to anyone who reads this is don't let this discourage you from reading his great works like "Dido Queen of Carthage," "Faustus," "Massacre At Paris," or "Edwatd II."

I had purchased this version of Marlowe's work because it was convenient at the time. While I thought it was a good story, it was also heavily edited. It did spur my desier to find the original A and B texts of the play, and now that I have read the more complete version I feel that this particular revision actually cheats the reader of the true depth of the play and the fall of Faustus. Many scenes from the original, such as the knight's plot of revenge, were removed. The author claimed such cuts were made for the sake of a more 'performable' play, which may be true, but in this, and other instances, I felt the material cut was crucial to filling out the plot and improving character develop throughout the story. I read both versions with a directors eye, and I would urge anyone considering this purchase to look for 'The Complete Plays' instead.