Imitation and Contamination of the Classics in the Comedies of Ben Jonson

Guides Not Commanders
1. Auflage 2022
ISBN: 978-0-367-47416-4
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 272 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 578 g

Reihe: Studies in Performance and Early Modern Drama

This book focuses on the influence of classical authors on Ben Jonson’s dramaturgy, with particular emphasis on the Greek and Roman playwrights and satirists. It illuminates the interdependence of the aspects of Jonson’s creative personality by considering how classical performance elements, including the Aristophanic ‘Great Idea,’ chorus, Terentian/Plautine performative strategies, and ‘performative’ elements from literary satire, manifest themselves in the structuring and staging of his plays.

This fascinating exploration contributes to the ‘performative turn’ in early modern studies by reframing Jonson’s classicism as essential to his dramaturgy as well as his erudition. The book is also a case study for how the early modern education system’s emphasis on imitative-contaminative practices prepared its students, many of whom became professional playwrights, for writing for a theatre that had a similar emphasis on recycling and recombining performative tropes and structures.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Harrison, Tom

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Theaterwissenschaft Theatergeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunst, allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Stoffe, Motive und Themen
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Klassische Literaturwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Strömungen & Epochen
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Dramen und Dramatiker
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Englische Literatur

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

References, Translations, and Abbreviations

Introduction: Altered Casrs

Chapter 1. Worlds Out of Words: Jonsonian and Aristophanic Cloudcuckoolands

Chapter 2. Hermaphroditical Authority: Epicene and The Aristophanic Chorus

Chapter 3. Mirror Stages: Satire from Every Man Out of His Humour to Volpone

Chapter 4. Servants with No Master: Broken Theatregrams in Every Man In His Humour and The Devil Is an Ass

Conclusion: The Unclosed Circle

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Tom Harrison is a Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at Queen’s University Belfast.