Robert Logan here makes plain how Shakespeare incorporated into his own work the dramaturgical and literary devices that resulted in Marlowe's artistic and commercial success. Logan shows how Shakespeare's examination of the mechanics of his fellow dramatist's artistry led him to absorb and develop three especially powerful influences: Marlowe's remarkable verbal dexterity, his imaginative flexibility in reconfiguring standard notions of dramatic genres, and his astute use of ambivalence and ambiguity. This study therefore argues that Marlowe and Shakespeare regarded one another not chiefly as writers with great themes, but as practicing dramatists and poets-which is where, Logan contends, the influence begins and ends.
Robert Logan teaches at the University of Hartford, USA, where for ten years he also acted as Chairman of thae English department. In 1998, he was appointed Director of the University's Humanities Center and from 2000-2004 held the office of President of The Marlowe Society of America. He co-edited, with Sara Munson Deats, Marlowe's Empery: Expanding His Critical Contexts.