Description
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.
Table of Contents
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
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