The Works of John Webster ed. by David Gunby, David Carnegie, and Antony Hammond (review)

HUMANITIES 201 critics construct not only texts but also ideas of criticism, we retain false notions of old criticism as monolithic and moribund, just as we construct ideas of newer criticism as more divisive and theoretically informed than it is. In the former, unity was good; in the latter, conflict is good - each assumes its version of Shakespeare and criticism to be the right one, but neither claim can rest on an unassailable foundation of truth, since belief systems are just belief systems. Ideology is everywhere. Pechter, too, is inside ideology and he knows it - most of the time. Since definitive, objective judgment is impossible, Pechter argues for a rhetoric of 'pragmatic profitability.' New Criticism is reborn as theoretically and even sOcially responsible, conscious of its own contingencies. That's why it's worrying midway through the book when Pechter champions hedonistic critical J grasshoppers' for whom 'interpretation is located in the power of the text or rather in a random responsiveness that allows texts to turn into experiences of energy, freedom, and pleasure.' This sounds suspiciously like those paeans to 'literature itself' and the autonomous reader which he debunks so thoroughly elsewhere. And the early modern grasshoppers with whom Pechter aligns himself are unreliable witnesses to the transformative power of theatre: Orazio Busino, the aristocratic Venetian who records his response to a performance of The Duchess ofMalfi in 1617, quickly reverts to Catholic outrage after a brief spell of aesthetic approval, while Cluistopher S1y continues to call for La pot o'th' smallest ale' (Induction 2.73) even as he surrenders to the delicious fantasy which confirms his initial self-aggrandizement and serves his self-interest. Theatre appears to have little power in either case to construct those genuinely L[n]ew stories' Pechter is trying to hear. A better analogy for Pechter's own project lies in his discussion of The Duchess of Malfi. He argues that Webster's moving portrayal of domestic intimacy, his 'pre-invention of the Nuclear Family,' reflects and effects a shift in early modern ideology that is not fully anticipated or contained by the residual structures which generated it. As in literary criticism, 'paradigms are different, and they do change.' While this book is as ideological as any (and refreshingly willing to admit it), it offers its readers an experience of free play, pleasure, and surprise that is potentially more transformative than the exhausted critical modes it anatomizes. (CHRISTINA LUCKYJ) David Gunby, David Carnegie, and Antony Hammond, editors. The Works ofJohn Webster, volume 1 Cambridge University Press 1995. xxxiv, 714. us $139.95 The first volume of the new Cambridge edition of Webster presents oldspelling texts of The White Devil and The Duchess ofMalfi. It is particularly notable for its full treatment of the plays as theatrical scripts. In the 202 LETTERS IN CANADA 1996 commentary the editors not only provide the usual clarifactions but try out production choices, and report what actual productions have done. They suggest, for example, that when Monticelso presents young Giovanni as I a Champion' he could be wearing the armour his uncle ordered for him in a previous scene. They note that when Francisco invites Brachiano to sit so that he can lecture him, it makes a difference whether it is on a chair or a stool. The Duchess of Malti could enter her final scene with her hair unboillld, a sign of distraction and an ironic symbol of a virgin bride on her wedding day. Citing different productions, they note that the Duchess's 'Fye Sir' in response to Ferdinand's lamprey joke can be played for indignant shock, good humour, or bawdry. The commentary is also rich in information. It is good to know that if a ferret has its teeth in you, you can make it let go byblowing in its face. When Bosola,lecturing the Duchess on her mortality, impersonates a bellman, he is doing what an actual London bellman did for condemned prisoners at Newgate; one of the witnesses to the deed that established the office was Webster's father. The editors do not, on the whole, try out their theatrical ideas by interfering with the text, as the editors of the...