Messiahs and Machiavellians

<p><em>Messiahs and Machiavellians</em> is an innovative exploration of modern evil in works of early- and late-modern theatre raising issues about ethics politics religion and aesthetics that speak to our present condition.</p><p>Paul Corey examines how theatre--which expressed a key political dynamic both in the Renaissance and the twentieth century--lays open the impulses that instigated modernity and ultimately unparalleled levels of violence and destruction. Starting with Albert Camus' <em>Caligula</em> and Samuel Beckett's <em>Waiting for Godot</em> then turning to Machiavelli's <em>Mandragola</em> and Shakespeare's <em>Measure for Measure</em> Corey traces the emergence of two dominant intertwining features of modern evil: an unrestrained pursuit of power and the utopian desire for perfection.</p><p>Corey's imaginative and convincing readings of these plays based on detailed textual analysis move beyond the accounts usually offered by literary critics. Drawing on political theological and philosophical sources--a combination as fertile as it is unusual--Corey's methodology allows him to make keen and subtle arguments about the eschatological nature of modern politics.</p>