Ben Jonson

Broschiertes Buch

The Selected Plays of Ben Jonson

Volume 2: The Alchemist, Bartholomew Fair, the New Inn, a Tale of a Tub

Herausgeber: Butler, Martin

Beschreibung

This volume brings together four of Ben Jonson's plays, two of his major works - The Alchemist (1610) and Bartholomew Fair (1614) and two from his later oeuvre: The New Inn (1629) and A Tale of a Tub (1633). The Alchemist is a major satire on folly and greed, brilliantly plotted and dazzling in its use of language. Bartholomew Fair, possibly Jonson's greatest achievement, reveals a panoramic depiction of London society. The New Inn and A Tale of a Tub suggest a different Jonson, exploring new forms and writing from a profoundly modified perspective. In The New Inn, a romantic comedy overlaid with an atmospheric melancholy and an ethical urgency, Jonson engages seriously for the first time with the conventions of non-satiric comedy. A Tale of a Tub, a riotous farce set in the early years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, is now widely regarded as a nostalgic Jonsonian pastiche of Elizabethan popular drama. In recent criticism, Jonson's later career has been undergoing considerable reassessment, and this edition is the first that attempts to take this new view of Jonson into account. Dr Butler's edition is full and informative in its annotations and survey of criticisms to date, and cautiously respectful of Jonsonian punctuation.

Table of contents:
Preface to the series; Acknowledgements; Introduction; THE ALCHEMIST Introductory note Text; BARTHOLOMEW FAIR Introductory note Text; THE NEW INN Introductory note Text; A TALE OF A TUB Introductory note Text; Notes; Textual notes; Additional notes.

This volume brings together four of Ben Jonson's plays, two of his major works - The Alchemist (1610) and Bartholomew Fair (1614) and two from his later oeuvre: The New Inn (1629) and A Tale of a Tub (1633).

Dr Butler's edition is full and informative in its annotations and survey of criticisms to date, and cautiously respectful of Jonsonian punctuation.

Autor

Jonson was a classically educated, well-read, and cultured English Renaissance man with an appetite for controversy (personal and political, artistic and intellectual), and his cultural influence was unparalleled on the playwrights and poets of the Jacobean and Caroline eras (1603-1625 and 1625-1642, respectively). In midlife, Jonson stated that his paternal grandfather, who "served King Henry 8 and was a gentleman," was a member of the extended Johnston family of Annandale in Dumfries and Galloway, a genealogy supported by the three spindles (rhombi) in the Jonson family coat of arms, one of which is a diamond-shaped heraldic device used by the Johnston family. Jonson's father lost his property, was imprisoned, and, as a Protestant, faced forfeiture under Queen Mary. He became a clergyman after his release and died a month before his son was born. His widow married a master bricklayer two years later. Jonson attended school in St Martin's Lane, London. Later, a family friend paid for his education at Westminster School, where he studied under William Camden (1551-1623), an antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Seitenzahl: 556
• Erscheinungstermin: 17. November 2004
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 216mm x 140mm x 32mm
• Gewicht: 775g
• ISBN-13: 9780521318426
• ISBN-10: 0521318424
• Artikelnr.: 21325805