Chapter VIII. Renaissance Drama 8. Excluding Shakespeare: YWES – YEAR 2023 Section on Christopher Marlowe

he year 2023 confirms the scholarly attention devoted to Christopher Marlowe that has characterized the last few years. Special attention is given to the emergence of pedagogical approaches that challenge the marginalization of Marlowe in secondary and tertiary education, as exemplified in the 2023 Journal of Marlowe Studies monographic section edited by Paul Frazer and Adam Hansen. Contributors to this special issue provide practical models for re-integrating Marlowe into the classroom through research-led, creative and materially engaged practices. Alongside these teaching-focused interventions, the Textus. English Studies in Italy special issue edited by Cristiano Ragni and Andrew Duxfield offers a multifaceted reassessment of Marlowe’s literary output, engaging in close readings that explore Marlowe’s treatment of themes and issues as varied as power, identity, space and poetics. Besides these special issues, other contributions extend the scope of Marlowe Studies to include digital stylometry, orientalist discourse and intercultural intertextuality, as well as to Marlowe’s least frequented output. In tracing these diverse critical strands—from textual analysis and historiography to pedagogy and digital method—the contributions published in 2023 demonstrate how Marlowe studies are thriving. What emerges is a body of work that resists disciplinary siloing, embraces transnational perspectives, and foregrounds Marlowe as a figure who continues to provoke, unsettle and illuminate.