Five Plays

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Oxford University Press, 1999 - 603 páginas
"The five plays in this collection represent the complexity of Jonson's art as a playwright. His first important play, 'Every man in his humor' (1598), represents the high point of the 'humours' comedy with which Jonson is always associated. 'Sejanus, acted in 1603, is an experiment in tragedy on classical principles, and a disturbing analysis of political power. 'Volpone' (performed in 1606) and 'The alchemist' (performed in 1610) are Jonson's most distinctive comedies, set among a world of rogues and dissemblers, with a strong moral and satirical intention which exposes trickery and yet seems also to delight in it. The later comedy 'Bartholomew Fair', acted in 1614, is more tolerant of human weakness, and is now perhaps the most appealing of Jonson's plays"--Back cover

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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 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.

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