Academic literature on the topic 'Jonson, ben, 1573-1637, bibliography'

This thesis discusses Ben Jonson's innovative concept of character as an effect of interactions in dramatic, political and literary spheres. The Introduction observes how the early modern understanding of ‘character' was built on classical rhetorical theory, and argues its relevance to Jonson's rhetorical and performative representations of characters. Chapter 1 looks into the bridge between epigrams and character writing, and examines the rhetorical influence of the grammar-school exercises of Progymnasmata on Jonson's representation of characters in his Epigrams. Chapter 2 examines character as legal ethos in Catiline, analysing the discourse of law that constitutes Cicero's struggle to issue senatus consultum ultimum and examining the way Catiline represents character and mischief to address the problematic issues of power and authority in King James' monarchical republic. Chapter 3 explores Jonson's challenge in his integration of the emblematic characters of Opinion and Truth in Hymenaei, and argues that the underlining contemporary medico-legal discourses help the masque to accommodate conflicting characters. Chapter 4 discusses the problematic characterization of news and rumours in Volpone, The Staple of News and the later masques, and considers the way Jonsonian characters strive to find trustworthy and legible signs of others in their exchanges of information. In Conclusion, the thesis confirms the need to re-acknowledge Jonson's writings in terms of character as rhetorical effect of these imagined interactions.

This thesis is an analysis of the manner in which the persona and works of Ben Jonson were appropriated – between the Restoration, in 1660, and the retirement of David Garrick, in 1776 – to reflect the political and social concerns of the age. Unlike previous studies, rather than primarily focusing on the stage history of Jonson, I analyse a wide range of sources – produced both within and outwith the theatre – in order to explore, across a variety of media, a breadth of material which appropriates the playwright and his works. I shall consider in my first main chapter the appropriations of Jonson within the Restoration court, in particular noting the assimilation of the playwright's work to what might be styled a proto-Tory ideology, as well as the way in which his plays could mirror the destabilising effects of the king's romantic liaisons. In my second chapter, I explore the moral reformation at the turn of the eighteenth century, in which we can see appropriations of Jonson which cast his works as being primarily didactic. The third chapter moves the narrative of the thesis into the years of the premiership of Sir Robert Walpole. I shall consider the way in which the playwright's works – especially The Alchemist and Eastward Ho! – were seen as being especially relevant to an age of speculation and mercantile endeavour, as well as examining the manner in which the figures of Sejanus and Volpone were appropriated to mock the increasingly unpopular premier. In the final chapter, I shall offer an analysis of Garrick's seminal portrayal of Drugger in the contexts of the political philosophy of the mid-eighteenth century, considering the manner in which it was interpreted alongside the character's further appropriations by Francis Gentleman. The thesis concludes by exploring political appropriations of Jonson up to the present day.

Chapter 1 considers Barclay's 'Ship of Fools' in relation to other folly literature in English, particularly Lydgate's 'Order of Fools', Skelton's 'Bowge of Courte', and 'Cocke Lorrel's Bote'. Motifs, allegories and the woodcuts of the text are discussed and some are included in an Illustrations section. Chapter 2 discusses Erasmian folly looking back to the Neoplatonic writings of Nicholas of Cusa, and to the debt Erasmian exegeses owe to Origen. Erasmus' own philosophical and theological views are examined, particularly as they are found in his 'Enchiridion', and in the influence of Thomas à Kempis' 'Imitation of Christ'. A close textual analysis of the 'Moriae Encomium' is undertaken in this light. Chapter 3 defines the lateral boundaries of folly, where it blends into madness. In the context of Renaissance psychology sixteenth century medical works are analysed, including Boorde's 'Breviary of Healthe', Barrough's 'Method of Physicke' and Elyot's 'Castel of Helth'. Blurring between madness and sin, the negative judgments on the mad as demon-possessed, and the biblical models from which such judgments largely arose give alternative perspectives on madness and its relation to folly. Chapters 4-6 look at three Shakespearean comedies showing the development of a primarily Erasmian view of folly. This moves from overt references in 'Love's Labour's Lost' to natural folly, the folly of love and theological folly, through carnivalesque aspects of folly and madness in 'Twelfth Night', to an embedded notion of folly which influences and affects the darker comedy of 'Measure for Measure'. Chapter 7 considers satires of Hall, Marston and Guilpin, and looks at Jonson's Humour plays in this context. 'Volpone' and 'Epicoene', and 'The Alchemist' and 'Bartholomew Fair' are discussed in pairs, showing the softening of Jonson's attitude to folly, and his increasing representation of Erasmian folly reaching its full expression in 'Bartholomew Fair'.

Cette étude propose la première traduction in extenso de huit textes écrits par Ben Jonson pour des masques de cour sous Jacques Ier. Genre pluridisciplinaire, équivalent anglais du ballet de cour français et de l’intermezzo italien, le masque eut une existence éphémère (1605-1640), mais brillante. Le premier volume retrace ses origines et le travail des deux artistes qui lui donnèrent sa supériorité sur ses prédécesseurs : Jonson, par la qualité de ses textes, et Inigo Jones, dont les scénographies somptueuses réduisirent ces derniers à un rôle de faire valoir sous le règne suivant. Puis un panorama critique montre que le masque, loin d’être simplement un panégyrique royal, donnait souvent voix à des enjeux politiques complexes. Sont également exposés l’esprit et les principes de cette traduction : il s’est agi de faire entendre à la fois l’aspect idéologiquement et historiquement daté de ces textes (notamment en traduisant en alexandrins rimés les pentamètres iambiques du main masque, le panégyrique proprement dit), mais aussi leur dimension plus moderne, en particulier dans les passages comiques de l’antimasque. Enfin, ce volume comprend de nombreux documents (chronologiques, biographiques, iconographiques) en annexe. Le second volume inclut les textes anglais et leur traduction en regard, justifie le choix des éditions utilisées (Herford & Simpson, Orgel), présente le contexte historique et les grandes lignes thématiques de chaque oeuvre, et fournit de nombreuses notes qui prennent en compte le travail de commentaire antérieur et l’apport critique le plus récent. Cette traduction inédite vise à rendre les masques de Jonson accessibles à la communauté francophone ; mais les mises à jour et interprétations proposées dans le volumineux appareil critique pourront également se révéler utiles aux spécialistes de la période
This study offers the first full-length translation of eight texts written by Ben Jonson for Jacobean court masques. The masque, a cross-disciplinary genre and the counterpart of the French ballet de cour and Italian intermezzo, was short-lived (1605-1640), but dazzling. The first volume traces its origins and the work of the two artists who improved it over its predecessors : Jonson, by the quality of his texts, and Inigo Jones, whose lavish stage designs reduced the text to a mere foil in the next reign. Then, a critical overview of the genre shows that, far from being only a royal panegyric, masques often voiced complex political issues. The spirit and principles of this translation are also put forward : the aim was to express both the ideological and historical outdatedness of these texts (especially by translating into rhymed Alexandrine verse the iambic pentametres of the main masque – the panegyric part proper), but also their more modern dimension, especially in the comic passages of the antimasque. Lastly, there are many chronological, biographical and iconographical documents appended to this volume. The second volume includes the English text and French translation facing each other, accounts for the choice of the editions used (Herford & Simpson, Orgel), presents the historical context and main thematic lines of each masque, and provides numerous notes, taking into account the work of the previous commentators and the most recent critical contributions. This unprecedented translation aims at making Jonson’s masques available to the francophone community ; yet the updating work and interpretations offered in the substantial critical apparatus may prove useful to the specialists of the period

Cette thèse propose d’étudier la place et la portée de l’Italie comme lieu scénique dans les pièces de deux célèbres dramaturges de la période élisabéthaine. L’introduction met en lumière la présence et l’influence de l’Italie durant la période qui précède l’essor du théâtre à Londres, ainsi que l’omniprésence de la péninsule au théâtre entre 1580 et 1620, en particulier chez William Shakespeare. La première partie de l’étude s’attache à mettre en évidence la façon dont le décor italien se met en place et dont se construit la figure de l’Autre sur la scène élisabéthaine. Sur une scène où le décor physique est limité, les procédés de création d’une couleur locale prennent des formes diverses et variées et révèlent la nature de la dualité entre identité et altérité pour le spectateur de la Renaissance anglaise. C’est alors que l’on entrevoit les différences entre la représentation satirique de Ben Jonson et celle de William Shakespeare, dont la vision de l’Italie apparaît bien plus vague, complexe et changeante. La seconde partie de ce travail repose sur l’étude des différents topoï auxquels est liée l’Italie au théâtre. Ces derniers permettent de comprendre que la représentation de la péninsule s’appuie sur un certain nombre de codes en partie attendus du public. Ils démontrent en outre combien l’identité anglaise se construit à la fois à travers le rejet et l’imitation de la patrie de la Renaissance, en un temps où l’Europe est coupée en deux sur le plan politique et religieux
This dissertation proposes the study of the place and significance of Italy as a dramatic setting in the plays of two famous dramatists of the Elizabethan period. The introduction describes the presence and influence of Italy during the period preceding the rise and blossoming of the theatre in London, as well as the omnipresence of the Italian peninsula in drama between1580 and 1620, particularly in that of William Shakespeare. The first part of the study aims to show how the Italian setting is constructed and how the figure of the Other is represented on the Elizabethan stage. In a theatre where the physical décor is limited, the methods for creating local colour take diverse and varied forms and reveal the nature of the duality between identity and otherness for the English Renaissance spectator. This then brings into focus the differences between the satirical representation of Ben Jonson and that of William Shakespeare, whose vision of Italy appears far more vague, complex and mutable. The second part of this work focuses on the study of the different topoi to which Italy is linked in their plays. They reveal the extent to which representation of the Italian peninsula is based on a collection of codes shaped in part by the expectations by the public. Moreover, they demonstrate the importance of the simultaneous rejection and imitation of the homeland of the Renaissance in the construction of English identity,at a time when Europe is divided in two on political and religious grounds

Sous la férule d'Inigo Jones le masque, introduit en Angleterre en 1512, s'enrichit de costumes féeriques, d'une machinerie complexe permettant les changements de décor à vue, d'une scénographie obéissant aux lois de la perspective et de livrets d'inspiration mythologique visant à glorifier les souverains et à légitimer leur pouvoir. Ces spectacles de cour, tels que Jones les conçut, rompaient non seulement avec les formes traditionnelles de divertissement qui avaient prévalu jusque là en Angleterre mais annonçaient de surcroît l'avènement de l'opéra
Under Inigo Jones's supervision the masque first introduced in England in 1512 got fairy custumes, complex machines allowing changes of scenery, a scenography according to the laws of perspective and libretti inspired from mythological sources which aimed at glorifying the sovereigns and legitimazing their power. The masque, as Jones conceived it, not only broke with the traditional forms of entertainment which had prevailed in England until that time but moreover heralded the advent of the opera

This thesis argues that social debt profoundly transformed the environment in which literature was produced and experienced in the early modern period. In each chapter, I examine the various ways in which social debt affected Renaissance writers and the literature they produced. While considering the cultural changes regarding patronage, love, friendship, and debt, I will analyze the poetry and drama of Ben Jonson, Lady Mary Wroth, William Shakespeare, and Thomas Middleton. Each of these writers experiences social debt in a unique and revealing way. Ben Jonson's participation in networks of social debt via poetry allowed him to secure both a livelihood and a place in the Jacobean court through exchanges of poetry and patronage. The issue of social debt pervades both Wroth's life and her writing. Love and debt are intertwined in the actions of her father, the death of her husband, and the themes of her sonnets and pastoral tragicomedy. In Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (c. 1596), Antonio and Bassanio’s friendship is tested by a burdensome interpersonal debt, which can only be alleviated by an outsider. This indicated the transition from honor-based credit system to an impersonal system of commercial exchange. Middleton’s A Trick to Catch the Old One (1608) examines how those heavily in debt dealt with both the social and legal consequences of defaulting on loans.

Since its 1605 quarto publication, Ben Jonson's Sejanus has inspired much critical commentary. Although criticism credits Jonson with a compositorial role in the Quarto's production, critics continue to assess its marginalia as a defense against application or a scholarly pretense. Editors have pared down the marginalia, setting them as footnotes or endnotes; others have relegated them to appendices; still others have abandoned them entirely. Neither critics nor editors have weighed Jonson's marginalia beside the dramatic text they inform. Reading the Quarto Sejanus as a composite of margins and centre, within its bibliographical, theoretical, and literary contexts, shows it to be a learned study in emergent theories of historiography. In its innovations, the composite redresses the inefficacies of contemporary historians and editors. To understand Sejanus's textual interactions. the opening chapter examines tbe quarto itself. In each feature of its composition - from its title page, through its prefatory epistle, laudatory poems, and argument, to its very mise-en-page - the Quarto Sejanus declares itself the learnedly innovative product of long labour, and demands to be read as such. Chapter 2 considers the impact upon Renaissance historiographers of historiographic models, ranging from Gildas Sapiens to North's Plutarch, and theoretic models, from the Florentine to the Polybian. The composite Sejanus is innovatively Polybian in its comprehensive attention to human cause and circumstance. Sejanus' historiographic claims are tested against Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Chapter 3 begins the process of investigating Sejanus's bibliographical innovations. The investigation begins with the reception of the scholarly text in 1605 through three interdependent early-modern practices - margination. education, and reading - to show that, having no conception of supplemenlarity, the Renaissance reader read the whole page. Chapter 4 produces something afthe Quarto Sejanus's bibliographical context through two contemporary marginated texts - Matthew Gwinne's Latin drama Nero and Sir John Harington's translation of Orlalldo Furioso. Chapter 5 tests my claims to the Quarto Sejanus's bibliographical innovation within the context created in Chapter 4. The Quarto's composite fonn transcends the limits of the text to a degree unmatched by its dramatic or historiographic contemporaries, allowing Jonson to model right and ill-reasoned action through psychologically realized characters within vividly historicized events.
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