The Selected Plays of Ben Jonson: Volume 2
The Alchemist, Bartholomew Fair, The New Inn, A Tale of a Tub

Dr Butler's edition is full and informative in its annotations and survey of criticisms to date, and cautiously respectful of Jonsonian punctuation.

Ben Jonson (Author), Martin Butler (Edited by)

9780521318426, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 May 1989

556 pages, 4 b/w illus.
21 x 11.7 x 2.7 cm, 0.596 kg

This volume brings together four of Ben Jonson's plays, two of his major works - The Alchemist (1610) and Bartholomew Fair (1614) and two from his later oeuvre: The New Inn (1629) and A Tale of a Tub (1633). The Alchemist is a major satire on folly and greed, brilliantly plotted and dazzling in its use of language. Bartholomew Fair, possibly Jonson's greatest achievement, reveals a panoramic depiction of London society. The New Inn and A Tale of a Tub suggest a different Jonson, exploring new forms and writing from a profoundly modified perspective. In The New Inn, a romantic comedy overlaid with an atmospheric melancholy and an ethical urgency, Jonson engages seriously for the first time with the conventions of non-satiric comedy. A Tale of a Tub, a riotous farce set in the early years of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, is now widely regarded as a nostalgic Jonsonian pastiche of Elizabethan popular drama. In recent criticism, Jonson's later career has been undergoing considerable reassessment, and this edition is the first that attempts to take this new view of Jonson into account. Dr Butler's edition is full and informative in its annotations and survey of criticisms to date, and cautiously respectful of Jonsonian punctuation.

Preface to the series
Acknowledgements
Introduction
THE ALCHEMIST Introductory note Text
BARTHOLOMEW FAIR Introductory note Text
THE NEW INN Introductory note Text
A TALE OF A TUB Introductory note Text
Notes
Textual notes
Additional notes.

Subject Areas: Plays, playscripts [DD]