died c. 1632 English dramatist and writer of prose pamphlets who
is particularly known for his lively depictions of London life.
Few facts of Dekker's life are certain. He may have been born
into a family of Dutch immigrants living in London and is first
mentioned as a playwright in 1598. He apparently wrote to
support himself, and he had a hand in at least 42 plays written
in the next 30 years. In the dispute known as the poets' war or
the war of the theatres, he was satirized in Ben Jonson's
Poetaster (produced 1601) as Demetrius Fannius, a very simple
honest fellow. . . a dresser of plays. This precipitated
Dekker's own attack on Jonson in the play Satiro-mastix
(produced 1601). Thirteen more plays survive in which Dekker
collaborated with such figures as Thomas Middleton, John
Webster, Philip Massinger, John Ford, and William Rowley. Of the
nine surviving plays that are entirely Dekker's work, probably
the best-known are The Shoemakers Holiday (1600) and The Honest
Whore, Part 2 (1630). These plays are ty