Thomas Dekker

Dekker, Thomas 

Born 1572 (?) in London; died there 1632. English playwright.

Born into the artisan class, Dekker expressed democratic tendencies in his plays (The Pleasant Comedy of Old Fortunatus, 1600, The Shoemaker’s Holiday or the Gentle Craft, published anonymously in 1600, and The Honest Whore, 1604). He and J. Marston wrote the comedy Satiromastix, which was presented in 1601 and published in 1602. With J. Webster, Dekker wrote The Famous History of Sir Thomas Wyatt (1607), with P. Massinger The Virgin Martyr (1622), and with J. Ford and W. Rowley The Witch of Edmonton, which was staged in 1621 and published in 1658. Dekker’s prose works include The Wonderful Year (1603), The Bellman of London (1608), The Gull’s Hornbook (1609), and many satirical pamphlets.

WORKS

Dramatic Works, vols. 1–4. London, 1873.
Nondramatic Works, vols. 1–5. London, 1884–86.
In Russian translation:
Dobrodetel’naia shliukha. In I. A. Aksenov, Elizavetintsy. Moscow, 1938.
Prazdnik bashmachnika. In Sovremenniki Shekspira, vol. 1. Moscow, 1959.

REFERENCE

Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 1, fasc. 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1945.

I. M. KATARSKII