Further Reading
- Berman, Roland, "Nature in Venice Preserv'd," ELH 36, no. 3 (September 1969): 529-43. (Argues that Venice Preserv'd is the darkest type of dramatic tragedy, since it offers no solution to the problems that arise when humanity believes it can overcome its inability to live and govern wisely.)
- Bywaters, David, "Venice, Its Senate, and Its Plot in Otway's Venice Preserv'd," Modern Philology 80, no. 3 (February 1983): 256-63. (Establishes links between the Italian setting of Venice Preserv'd and criticism of English government and Whig politicians.)
- Davis, Bertram H., "Otway's Life and Legend: Biography and Autobiography," in Thomas Otway, Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1982, pp. 1-30. (Provides an overview of Otway's life, works, and critical reception.)
- DePorte, Michael, "Otway and the Straits of Venice," Papers on Language and Literature 18, no. 3 (summer 1982): 245-57. (Views Venice Preserv'd as a deeply pessimistic play about human nature.)
- Durant, Jack D., "‘Honor's Toughest Task’: Family and State in Venice Preserved," Studies in Philology 71, no. 4 (October 1974): 484-503. (Evaluates the bond of family in Venice Preserv'd and draws parallels between the family structures depicted in the play and the government of late seventeenth-century England.)
- Ghosh, J. C., "Introduction: Bibliography," in The Works of Thomas Otway: Plays, Poems, and Love Letters, edited by J. C. Ghosh, Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, 1932, pp. 67-84. (Details editions of Otway's works in print through 1932.)
- Gill, Pat, "Revolutionary Identity in Otway's Venice Preserved," in Illicit Sex: Identity Politics in Early Modern Culture, edited by Thomas DiPiero and Pat Gill, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1997, pp. 239-55. (Examines gender roles and tensions in Venice Preserv'd and traces the similarities between the play and the modern melodramatic film noir genre.)
- Ham, Roswell Gray, Otway and Lee: Biography from a Baroque Age, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1931, 250 p. (Compares the lives, influence, and plays of Otway and Nathaniel Lee, including stage productions on which they collaborated.)
- Harth, Phillip, "Political Interpretations of Venice Preserv'd," Modern Philology 85, no. 4 (May 1988): 345-62. (Investigates political interpretations of Venice Preserv'd but contends that although the play contains a plethora of political overtones, it also concerns the human conditions of love, honor, and revenge.)
- Hughes, Derek W., "A New Look at Venice Preserv'd," Studies in English Literature 11, no. 3 (summer 1971): 437-57. (Explores the breakdown of language, civility, and morals in Venice Preserv'd.)
- Munns, Jessica, "‘Plain as the light in the Cowcumber’: A Note on the Conspiracy in Thomas Otway's Venice Preserv'd," Modern Philology 85, no. 1 (August 1987): 54-7. (Argues that critics who concentrate on Whig-Tory polemics in Otway's Venice Preserv'd miss the subtleties of the playwright's mature political vision.)
- Munns, Jessica, Restoration Politics and Drama: The Plays of Thomas Otway, Newark, N.J.: University of Delaware Press, 1995, 269 p. (Study focusing on political themes in a number of plays Otway published between 1675 and 1683.)
- Munns, Jessica, Introduction to Restoration Politics and Drama: The Plays of Thomas Otway, 1675-1683, Newark, N.J.: University of Delaware Press, 1995, pp. 11-26. (Provides a brief biography of Otway, discusses prevalent themes in his works, and analyzes the political and social forces behind his writings.)
- Murray, Barbara A., "Plutarch, Shakespeare, and Lodge: The Literary and Theatrical Origins of Otway's The History and Fall of Caius Marius (1680)," Forum for Modern Language Studies 32, no. 1 (January 1996): 1-10. (Argues that although works by Plutarch and Shakespeare were key sources for The History and Fall of Caius Marius, critics have overlooked the influence of Thomas Lodge on Otway's tragedy.)
- Pollard, Hazel M. Batzer, From Heroics to Sentimentalism: A Study of Thomas Otway's Tragedies, Salzburg, Austria: Institut fur Englische Sprache und Literatur, 1974, 301 p. (Analysis of Otway's six tragedies, arguing that the plays move away from heroic drama toward the drama of sensibility.)
- Rogers, Katherine M., "Masculine and Feminine Values in Restoration Drama: The Distinctive Power of Venice Preserved," Texas Studies in Literature and Language 27, no. 4 (winter 1985): 390-404. (Asserts that in Venice Preserv'd Otway does an admirable job of presenting realistic motivations and actions for his female characters, an uncommon feat among Restoration playwrights.)
- Taylor, Aline Mackenzie, Next to Shakespeare: Otway's Venice Preserv'd and The Orphan, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1950, 313 p. (Outlines the stage history of Otway's most famous plays and accounts for their rapid decline in popularity after the nineteenth century.)
- Taylor, Aline Mackenzie, Introduction to Next to Shakespeare: Otway's Venice Preserv'd and The Orphan and Their History on the London Stage, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1950, pp. 3-7. (Briefly highlights critical response to The Orphan and Venice Preserv'd from the seventeenth century through the nineteenth century.)
- Taylor, Aline Mackenzie, Introduction to Thomas Otway: The Orphan, edited by Aline Mackenzie Taylor, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1976, pp. xiii-xxx. (Provides a stage history, plot summary, and critical assessment of The Orphan, arguing that the play should be read as a “Tragedy of Manners.”)
- Wallace, John M., "Otway's Caius Marius and the Exclusion Crisis," Modern Philology 85, no. 4 (May 1988): 363-72. (Illustrates the political upheavals of England occurring as Otway wrote Caius Marius, and notes the politically topical themes of exile, banishment, and corruption in the play.)
- Warner, Kerstin, Thomas Otway, Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1982, 162 p. (Study of Otway's life and literary career set in the context of the political and social background of the Restoration era.)
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