The Cambridge Companion to John Dryden

This Companion provides a fresh look at Dryden's work in the context of his time.

Steven N. Zwicker (Edited by)

9780521531443, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 20 May 2004

320 pages
22.8 x 15.4 x 2.1 cm, 0.508 kg

'The contributions in this collection are learned, generally well written and diverse and give readers the latest thinking on Dryden and his works … prove invaluable to students … This collection of seventeen essays gives readers the latest thinking on him and his works.' Contemporary Review

John Dryden, Poet Laureate to Charles II and James II, was one of the great literary figures of the late seventeenth century. This Companion provides a fresh look at Dryden's tactics and triumphs in negotiating the extraordinary political and cultural revolutions of his time. The newly commissioned essays introduce readers to the full range of his work as a poet, as a writer of innovative plays and operas, as a purveyor of contemporary notions of empire, and most of all as a man intimate with the opportunities of aristocratic patronage as well as the emerging market for literary gossip, slander and polemic. Dryden's works are examined in the context of seventeenth-century politics, publishing and ideas of authorship. A valuable resource for students and scholars, the Companion includes a full chronology of Dryden's life and times and a detailed guide to further reading.

Chronology
Part I. Pleasures of the Imagination: 1. Composing a literary life: introduction Steven N. Zwicker
2. Dryden and the theatrical imagination Stuart Sherman
3. Dryden and the energies of satire Ronald Paulson
4. Dryden and the imperial imagination Laura Brown
5. Dryden and the invention of Augustan culture Paul Davis
6. Dryden's triplets Christopher Ricks
Part II. A Literary Life in Restoration England: 7. Dryden's London Harold Love
8. Dryden's theatre and the passions of politics Paulina Kewes
9. Dryden's anonymity John Mullan
10. Dryden and the modes of restoration sociability Katsuhiro Engetsu
Part III: 11. Dryden and patronage John Barnard
12. Dryden and political allegiance Annabel Patterson
13. The piety of John Dryden John Spurr
14. Dryden's 'Fables' and the judgment of art Anne Cotterill
15. Dryden and the problem of literary modernity: epilogue Steven N. Zwicker.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC]