A scholarly edition of works by by Ben Jonson. The edition presents an authoritative text, together with an introduction, commentary notes, and scholarly apparatus.

Volpone, or "The Fox," is one of Jonson's most popular plays and through the years has been a favorite of both theater-goers and readers. Professor Kernan offers his own interpretation, in a critical introduction that fully exploits the rich imagery, intricate plot development, and skillful delineation of character.

Renaissance court masques involved music, dance, pageantry, and spectacular scenic effects. The form was transformed by Jonson into a serious mode of literary expression. Includes Jonson's own notes and glosses, explanatory notes, and critical commentary. From the Yale Ben Jonson edition.

In none of Ben Jonson's plays is Renaissance heroic humanism converted to comic reality more obviously and successfully than in The Alchemist. Here the aspiration of the Renaissance to control and remake the world is imaged as a great swindle, alchemy. Jonson parodies philosophers, scientists, the new Protestantism, the great Renaissance merchant adventurers, and the ages' ideals of military valor and impassioned love. His characters are comic versions of the ways in which the Renaissance sought power, knowledge, and pleasure--they are also a remarkably realistic cross section, ranging...

Complete text of play first performed in 1603. Modernized English text, explanatory and critical notes, and Introduction. From the Yale Ben Jonson Edition.

Complete edition of play published in 1616. A comedy about London's lower classes. Includes Introduction, critical and explanatory notes. From the Yale Ben Jonson Edition.

The Renaissance court masque, traditionally an entertainment of music, dancing, pageantry, and spectacular scenic effects, was transformed by Ben Jonson into a serious mode of literary expression. By using its peculiar viability as a forum for his dramatic imagination, Jonson resolved and transcended the satiric vision that was in many ways the substance of Jonsonian drama. He instructed as well as applauded his courtly audience and, with the aid of the great theatrical designer Indigo Jones, brought unity to the diverse elements of the masque, infusing them with a moral and poetic life. This...

This volume contains three of Ben Jonson's greatest plays - Sejanus (1603), Volpone (1606) and Epicoene, or The Silent Woman (1609). Sejanus, an experimental tragedy written in the classical manner, was labelled a seditious work at the time of its first production and embroiled Jonson with the Privy Council. Volpone is the first of his mature comedies, with a remarkable cast of Venetian legacy-hunters: using verse of mock-heroic grandeur Jonson created in the character of Volpone one of his most flamboyant and cynical swindlers. Epicoene is a brilliant farce which makes fun of the pretensions...

Four of Ben Jonson's plays are examined in this volume: two are his major works and two from his later oeuvre. The Alchemist (1610) is a major satire on folly and greed, brilliantly plotted and dazzling in its use of language. Bartholomew Fair (1614), possibly Jonson's greatest achievement, reveals a panoramic depiction of London society. The New Inn (1629) and A Tale of a Tub (1633) 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 ethical urgency, Jonson engages...

This is the most thoroughly investigated edition of Volpone to date, based on a wider collation of the 1607 quarto and 1616 folio versions than was previously possible. It calls into question several accepted textual conclusions.
The introduction sets Volpone in the context of Jonson's career at the time of writing and introduces new material on its relation to the Reynard beast epic and the commedia dell' arte. Ambiguities in the play are discussed with reference to two Renaissance perversions of the myth of the Golden Age. Particular attention is paid to the rhythmic effects of the play...