ABSTRACT
The appearance of Emil Koeppel’s Quellen-Studlen zu den Dramen G. Chapman’s, Mas singer’s und Ford’s in 1897 marked the beginning of a new phase in Chapman scholarship, a twenty-five year period in which various specialized concerns rather than generalizing, appreciatory essays were the main form of activity. Since 1950 Chapman studies have taken two major forms: a broader examination of the “traditional” issues and textual investigations of the plays which have taken us closer to an understanding of the plays as plays. William Lyon Phelps, an eminent Yale professor of the genteel tradition, is aware of the scholarly tradition on Chapman, but his Mermaid Chapman, containing a modern spelling text of five plays and a critical introduction, is more depreciatory in tone than any considered judgment since Dryden’s “indignant” tirade. The two overriding preoccupations of the Immediate post-Parrott era were the investigation of Chapman’s intellectual background and the sequent attempt to systematize his ethical and political thought.
