Playing with desire
Subtitle: Christopher Marlowe and the art of tantalization
By: Fred B. Tromly.
Publisher: University of Toronto Press; University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Toronto; Buffalo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 238
Subjects: Marlowe, Christopher, 1564-1593 -- Knowledge -- Psychology.; Teasing in literature.; Aggressiveness in literature.; Control (Psychology) in literature.; Drama -- Psychological aspects.; Desire in literature.; Sadism in literature.; Play in literature.; Sex in literature.
Description: "Playing with Desire takes a new approach to Christopher Marlowe's body of writing, replacing the view of Marlovian desire as heroic aspiration with a far less uplifting model. Fred B. Tromly shows that in Marlowe's writing desire is a response to calculated, teasing enticement, ultimately a sign not of power but of impotence. The author identifies this desire with the sadistic irony of the Tantalus myth rather than with the sublime tragedy exemplified by the familiar figure of Icarus.

Thus, Marlowe's characteristic mis en scene is moved from the heavens to the netherworld. Tromly also demonstrates that the manipulations of desire among Marlowe's characters find close parallels in the strategies by which his works tantalize and frustrate their audiences."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [211]-231) and index.