The Selected Plays of Ben Jonson: Volume 2: The Alchemist, Bartholomew Fair, The New Inn, A Tale of a Tub (Plays by Renaissance and Restoration Dramatists)
by Ben Jonson
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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 show more 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. show lessTags
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Born in 1572, Ben Jonson rejected his father's bricklaying trade and ran away from his apprenticeship to join the army. He returned to England in 1592, working as an actor and playwright. In 1598, he was tried for murder after killing another actor in a duel, and was briefly imprisoned. One of his first plays, Every Man Out of His Humor (1599) had show more fellow playwright William Shakespeare as a cast member. His success grew with such works as Volpone (1605) and The Alchemist (1610) and he was popular at court, frequently writing the Christmas masque. He is considered a very fine Elizabethan poet. In some anti-Stratfordian circles he is proposed as the true author of Shakespeare's plays, though this view is not widely accepted. Jonson was appointed London historian in 1628, but that same year, his life took a downward turn. He suffered a paralyzing stroke and lost favor at court after an argument with architect Inigo Jones and the death of King James I. Ben Jonson died on August 6, 1637. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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