Etherege & Wycherley

ISBN-13: 9780333575406 / Angielski / Twarda / 2004 / 248 str.

Barbara A. Kachur

Opis

Examining the major plays of George Etherege and William Wycherley within the context of the cultural and historical changes that marked the early years of Charles II's reign, this book addresses various issues such as marriage, manners, heroism and sovereignty that preoccupied late seventeenth-century Britain. In addition to exploring the plays as cultural and historical texts, this study offers performance histories that illuminate ways in which twentieth-century directors have altered and interpreted these plays to make them accessible to modern audiences.

Spis treści

Editor's Preface.- Acknowledgements and Textual Notes.- Carolean Context.- Carolean Theatre and Drama.- Etherege and the Carolean Theatre.- She Would if She Could: Comedy of Manners.- The Man of Mode: Comedy and the Masquerade.- Wycherley and the Carolean Theatre.- The Country Wife: Love, Marriage and Sovereignty.- The Plain Dealer: Honour, Courage and Heroism.- Notes.- Select Bibliography.- Index.

O autorze

BARBARA A. KACHUR is Associate Professor of English at the University of Missouri - St. Louis, USA.

Blurb

Etherege & Wycherley is the first book-length study devoted solely to these two leading comic dramatists of the early Restoration period.
B.A. Kachur explores the major plays by George Etherege and William Wycherley within the context of the cultural, social and political changes that marked the reign of Charles II, and addresses issues such as marriage, manners, heroism, sovereignty and anxieties over class hierarchies which preoccupied late seventeenth-century England.
The book provides studies of the following plays:
* She Would If She Could
* The Man of Mode
* The Country Wife
* The Plain Dealer
In addition to examining the plays as cultural and historical texts, Kachur offers:
* biographical sketches detailing the dramaturgical styles of the two
playwrights
* an overview of Charles II's reign, including its effects on the dramatic
literature of the era
* a survey of Carolean theatre and drama outlining innovations in
staging, and major dramatic genres
* performance histories which illuminate the ways in which
twentieth-century directors have interpreted the comedies to make
them accessible to modern audiences.