Description
“O rare Ben Jonson!” So reads the epitaph in Westminster Abbey, expressing the high regard in which this Elizabethan “angry man” was held by his contemporaries. Bricklayer, soldier, duelist, poet, playwright, scholar, Ben Jonson found himself throughout his career engaged in stormy friendships, literary polemics, and theatrical feuds. Yet his comic genius enabled him to combine a realistic portrayal of the London of his day with strict observation of the classical unities. The 20th century has brought a new response to this indignant Elizabethan, rediscovering in his works the comic brilliance that dazzled his own century. This volume views such masterpieces as ‘Volpone’, ‘The Alchemist’, and ‘Every Man In His Humour’ through modern eyes.
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