This timely book challenges conventional critical wisdom about the work of Ben Jonson. Looking in particular at his Jacobean and Caroline plays, it explores his engagement with concepts of republicanism. Julie Sanders investigates notions of community in Jonson's stage worlds - his 'theatrical republics' - and reveals a Jonson to contrast with the traditional image of the writer as conservative, absolutist, misogynist, and essentially 'anti-theatrical'. The Jonson presented here is a positive celebrant of the social and political possibilities of theatre.

This is a study of the rich and diverse range of musical responses to Shakespeare that have taken place from the seventeenth century onwards. Written from a literary perspective, the book explores the many genres and contexts in which Shakespeare and his work have enjoyed a musical afterlife discussing opera, ballet, and classical symphony alongside musicals and film soundtracks, as well as folk music and hip-hop traditions.

Taking as its starting point ideas of creativity and improvisation stemming from early modern baroque practices and the more recent example of twentieth-century jazz...

This is a study of the rich and diverse range of musical responses to Shakespeare that have taken place from the seventeenth century onwards. Written from a literary perspective, the book explores the many genres and contexts in which Shakespeare and his work have enjoyed a musical afterlife discussing opera, ballet, and classical symphony alongside musicals and film soundtracks, as well as folk music and hip-hop traditions.

Taking as its starting point ideas of creativity and improvisation stemming from early modern baroque practices and the more recent example of twentieth-century jazz...

This introduction to the core areas of English Literature is combined with a helpful study skills guide. It provides students with the knowledge and essential skills to communicate effectively and participate fully in their degree course.Written in a lucid manner by two experienced lecturers in the subject, the book places special emphasis on what it will feel like to adjust to new environments and new intellectual expectations.

This timely book challenges conventional critical wisdom about the work of Ben Jonson. Looking in particular at his Jacobean and Caroline plays, it explores his engagement with concepts of republicanism. Julie Sanders investigates notions of community in Jonson's stage worlds - his 'theatrical republics' - and reveals a Jonson to contrast with the traditional image of the writer as conservative, absolutist, misogynist, and essentially 'anti-theatrical'. The Jonson presented here is a positive celebrant of the social and political possibilities of theatre.

Caroline Dramatists takes as its focus the p ublic theatre playwriting of Philip Massinger, John Ford, Ja mes Shirley and Richard Frome between 1625 and 1642, and rev eals their concern with issues of community and hierarchy. '

This is an exciting collection of essays on the rule of Charles I at a time of fundamental importance to English history. It combines the work of historians with academics from literary studies to provide an interdisciplinary examination of the culture and political life of the decade. The chapters focus on issues in politics, religion, the monarchy and culture, as well as literature and art history. Essays examine everything from the King's correspondence to the role of consort queens at court and opposition to the King in libel, satire and on the stage. Many historians assert that it was...

Bringing together a group of established and emergent Jonson scholars, this volume reacts to major advances in thinking about the writer and his canon of works. The study is divided into two distinct parts: the first considers the Jonsonian career and output from biographical, critical, and performance-based angles; the second looks at cultural and historical contexts building on rich interdisciplinary work. Social historians work alongside literary critics to provide a diverse and varied account of Jonson. These are less standard surveys of the field than vibrant interventions into current...

Engaging and stimulating, this Introduction provides a fresh vista of the early modern theatrical landscape. Chapters are arranged according to key genres (tragedy, revenge, satire, history play, pastoral and city comedy), punctuated by a series of focused case studies on topics ranging from repertoire to performance style, political events to the physical body of the actor, and from plays in print to the space of the playhouse. Julie Sanders encourages readers to engage with particular dramatic moments, such as opening scenes, skulls on stage or the conventions of disguise, and to apply the...

The critical work of editing performance texts poses particular challenges for historians and scholars of the early periods of English literature, not least of which is the ephemerality of performance and the fragility of the archival evidence. The contributors to this volume engage with this challenge, asking how might editors of early period drama and performance literature account for the performance histories implied in the extant documents. The resulting chapters work in dialogue with each other to challenge many current givens in medieval and early modern drama research, especially...