humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare

I'm far enough along so that I can begin posting acts of George
Peele's *The Battle of Alcazar*.

I took my version from A.H. Bullen's *The Works of Geoge Peele,*
(London, 1888). I checked it with John Yoklavich's edition of the play
found in *The Life and Works of George Peele* vol. 2, Charles Prouty,
ed. (Yale UP, 1961). I compared the two versions and threw out some of
Bullen's emendations, but kept some others, especially those that
derived from the theatrical plot that has survived. I modernized the
spelling, following Bullen in most cases, but kept the British
spelling, since Peele was an English poet.

The version of this play--most probably abridged--was first published
in 1594, but is dated 1588-89.

I think that by comparing this play with Titus Andronicus we can
discover why the first two acts of Titus have been conjectured to have
been written by Peele for more than 100 years. W.W. Greg, Dover Wilson
and Dugdale Sykes are among those who accepted the attribution.
Others, including Kermode, have rejected it. More recently Brian
Vickers has restirred the pot in his *Shakespeare, Co-Author,* (Oxford
UP, 2002) by attributing 1.1, 2.1, 2.2 and 4.1 to Peele. I find his
arguments convincing; others haven't.

TR