E-Book Overview
Four of Ben Jonson's plays are examined in this volume: two are his major works and two from his later oeuvre. The Alchemist (1610) is a major satire on folly and greed, brilliantly plotted and dazzling in its use of language. Bartholomew Fair (1614), possibly Jonson's greatest achievement, reveals a panoramic depiction of London society. The New Inn (1629) and A Tale of a Tub (1633) 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 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 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.
E-Book Content
PLAYS BY RENAISSANCE AND RESTORATION DRAMATISTS General Editor: Graham Storey
JONSON VOLUME 2
VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES The plays of Cyril Tourneur, edited by George Parfitt: The Revenger's Tragedy; The Atheist's Tragedy The selected plays of Philip Massinger, edited by Colin Gibson: The Duke of Milan; The Roman Actor; A New Way to Pay Old Debts; The City Madam The selected plays of Thomas Middleton, edited by David L. Frost: A Mad World, My Masters; A Chaste Maid in Cheapside; Women Beware Women; The Changeling (with William Rowley) The plays of William Wycherley, edited by Peter Holland: Love in a Wood; The Gentleman Dancing Master; The Country Wife; The Plain Dealer The comedies of William Congreve, edited by Anthony Henderson: The Old Batchelor; The Double-Dealer; Love for Love; The Way of the World The plays of Sir George Etherege, edited by Michael Cordner: The Comical Revenge; or Love in a Tub; She Would If She Could; The Man of Mode; or Sir Fopling Flutter The selected plays of John Webster, edited by Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield: The White Devil; The Devil's Law Case; The Duchess ofMalfi The selected plays of John Marston, edited by MacDonald P. Jackson and Michael Neill: Antonio and Mellida; Antonio's Revenge; The Malcontent; The Dutch Courtesan; Sophonisba The selected plays of John Ford, edited by Colin Gibson: 'Tis Pity She's a Whore; The Broken Heart; Perkin Warbeck The selected plays of Ben Jonson, volume 1, edited by Johanna Procter: Sejanus; Volpone; Epicoene, or The Silent Woman The selected plays of Ben Jonson, volume 2, edited by Martin Butler: The Alchemist; Bartholomew Fair; The New Inn; A Tale of a Tub
THE SELECTED PLAYS OF
BEN JONSON VOLUME 2
The Alchemist Bartholomew Fair The New Inn A Tale of a Tub EDITED BY
MARTIN BUTLER Lecturer in English, University of Leeds
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Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP 32 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1989 First published 1989 British Library cataloguing in publication data Jonson, Ben (15737-1637)
The selected plays of Ben Jonson. - (Plays by Renaissance and Restoration dramatists). Vol. 2. I. Title II. Butler, Martin III. Series 822'.3
Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data
Jonson, Ben, 15737-1637. The selected plays of Ben Jonson. (Plays by Renaissance and Restoration dramatists) Contents: - v. 2. The alchemist. Ba