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.
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. Profe...
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...
In none of Ben Jonson's plays is Renaissance heroic humanism converted to comic reality more obviously and successfully than in The Alchemist. ...
Literature has passed through a crisis of confidence in recent decades--a radical questioning of its traditional values and its importance to humanity. In this witty and eloquent book, a distinguished professor of humanities looks at some of the agents that have contributed to literature's demise and ponders whether its vitality can be restored in the changing circumstances of late twentieth-century culture. Other critics, such as E. D. Hirsch and Allan Bloom, have also explored the growing cultural illiteracy of modern society. Alvin Kernan probes deeper, relating the death of literature to...
Literature has passed through a crisis of confidence in recent decades--a radical questioning of its traditional values and its importance to humanity...
Soon after James Stuart became king of England in 1603, William Shakespeare, while still working in the public theater, became the royal playwright, and his acting troupe became the premier playing company of the realm. How did this courtly setting influence Shakespeare's work? What was it like to view, perform in, and write plays conceived for the Stuart king? In this fascinating and lively book, one of our most eminent literary critics explores these questions by taking us back to the court performances of some of Shakespeare's most famous plays, examining them in their settings at the...
Soon after James Stuart became king of England in 1603, William Shakespeare, while still working in the public theater, became the royal playwright, a...
In this delightful and candid memoir, Alvin Kernan recalls his life as a student, professor, provost, and dean during a distinguished career in some of higher education's most hallowed halls. With his customary wit and insight, Kernan recounts his experiences at Columbia, Williams, Oxford, Yale, and Princeton in the company of an array of fascinating colleagues. And he describes from an insider's point of view how colleges and universities in the second half of the twentieth century have been transformed in radical ways. Against the background of what it was like to work and teach in...
In this delightful and candid memoir, Alvin Kernan recalls his life as a student, professor, provost, and dean during a distinguished career in some o...
The beleaguered Joad family of Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath struggled in an era of disappointed dreams and empty pockets. But how might the grandchildren of that Dust Bowl generation fare in today's more promising times? In this boisterously inventive book Alvin Kernan sends various descendants of the original Joad family on a postmodern journey out of California and into the excesses of American culture at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The experiences of today's Joads are as hilarious as they are discomfiting: they encounter in Kernan's America a world of democracy gone...
The beleaguered Joad family of Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath struggled in an era of disappointed dreams and empty pockets. But how might the gran...
The Signet Classics edition of William Shakespeare's Othello, a disturbing exploration of jealousy and wrath. Tragedy takes hold as the cunning and hateful Iago drives the heroic Moor of Venice first to suspicion, then to homicidal rage against his love Desdemona, in one of the Bard's darkest plays. This revised Signet Classics edition includes unique features such as: - An overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater - A special introduction to the play by the editor, Alvin Kernan - Selections from Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi, the source from...
The Signet Classics edition of William Shakespeare's Othello, a disturbing exploration of jealousy and wrath. Tragedy takes hold as ...
The description for this book, Samuel Johnson and the Impact of Print: (Originally published as Printing Technology, Letters, and Samuel Johnson), will be forthcoming.
The description for this book, Samuel Johnson and the Impact of Print: (Originally published as Printing Technology, Letters, and Samuel Johnson), ...
In this speculative treatment of literature as a social institution, Alvin B. Kernan explores the inability of contemporary writers and critics to maintain a literary vision in a society that denies their values and methods.
Originally published in 1982.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover...
In this speculative treatment of literature as a social institution, Alvin B. Kernan explores the inability of contemporary writers and critics to ...
Alvin B. Kernan William G. Bowen Harold T. Shapiro
This volume of specially commissioned original essays presents the thoughts of some of the most distinguished commentators within the American academy on the fundamental changes that have taken place in the humanities in the latter part of the twentieth century. In the transformation of American higher education from the university to the "demoversity," the humanities have become a less and less important part of education, a matter established by a statistical appendix and elaborated on in several of the essays. The individual essays offer close observations into how the humanities have...
This volume of specially commissioned original essays presents the thoughts of some of the most distinguished commentators within the American acad...
