689 Thomas Kyd (with Brian Vickers) | My Last Book with Jonathan D.S. Schroeder

For centuries, the playwright Thomas Kyd has been best known as the author of The Spanish Tragedy, a terrific story of revenge believed to have strongly influenced Shakespeare's Hamlet. And yet, a contemporary referred to Kyd as "industrious Kyd." What happened to the rest of his plays? In this episode, Jacke talks to scholar Brian Vickers about his new book Thomas Kyd: A Dramatist Restored, the first full study of Kyd's life and works, in which Vickers discusses Kyd's accepted canon as well as three additional plays Vickers has newly identified as having been written by Kyd—exciting discoveries that establish him as a major dramatist. PLUS Jonathan D.S. Schroeder (editor of The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots: A True Story of Slavery; A Rediscovered Narrative, with a Full Biography, by John Swanson Jacobs) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read.

Additional listening:

• 646 Discovering a Long Lost Slave Narrative (with Jonathan D.S. Schroeder)
• 48 Hamlet
• 332 Top 10 Things To Love About Hamlet (with Laurie Frankel)

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com.

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