Description
Interest in Ben Jonson is higher today than at any time since his death. This new collection offers detailed readings of all the major plays - Volpone, Epicene, The Alchemist and Bartholomew Fair - and the poems. It also provides significant insights into the court masques and the later plays which have only recently been rediscovered as genuinely engaging stage pieces.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements vi
1 Introduction 1
2 D o n E. W a y n e Drama and Society in the Age of Jonson:
An Alternative View 26
3 J o h n G . Sw e e n e y III Sejanus and the People's Beastly Rage 5 0
4 J o n a t h a n G o l d b e r g State Secrets 70
5 St a n l e y F i s h Authors-Readers: Jonson's Community
of the Same 83
6 Ia n D o n a l d s o n Unknown Ends: Volpone 118
7 M a r y B e t h R o s e The Expense of Spirit 136
8 C h e r y l L y n n Ross The Plague of The Alchemist 149
9 J o n a t h a n H a y n e s Festivity and the Dramatic Economy
of Jonson's Bartholomew Fair 167
10 M a r t i n B u t l e r Late Jonson 189
Further Reading 210
Index
