English Comedy [Paperback]

A wide-ranging examination of the traditions of comic writing in England.English Comedy brings together well-established scholars and younger critics to examine the traditions of comic writing in England, ranging from medieval and Renaissance drama through Romantic poetry to twentieth-century literature and philosophy, makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the heritage of comic writing.English Comedy brings together well-established scholars and younger critics to examine the traditions of comic writing in England, ranging from medieval and Renaissance drama through Romantic poetry to twentieth-century literature and philosophy, makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the heritage of comic writing.English Comedy brings together well-established scholars and younger critics to examine the traditions of comic writing in England, ranging from medieval and Renaissance drama through Romantic poetry to twentieth-century literature and philosophy. All the contributors are colleagues, friends or ex-students of Anne Barton, and the book is published to coincide with the appearance (also from CUP) of her Essays, Mainly Shakespearean.List of illustrations; Notes on contributors; 1. Introduction Michael Cordner, Peter Holland and John Kerrigan; 2. Crab's pedigree Richard Beadle; 3. The comedian as the character C Stephen Orgel; 4. Mixed verse and prose in Shakespearean comedy Jonas Barish; 5. Much Ado About Nothing: the unsociable comedy Barbara Everett; 6. Laughter, forgetting and Shakespeare Adrian Poole; 7. Enigmatic Ben Jonson John Creaser; 8. A New Way to Pay Old Debts: Massinger's grim comedy Martin Butler; 9. 'Thou teachest me humanitie': Thomas Heywood's The English Traveller Richard Rowland; 10. Etherege's She Would If She Could: comedy, complaisance and anti-climax Michael Cordner; 11. Rhyming as comedy: body, ghost and banquet Gillian Beer; 12. Wordsworthian comedy Jonathan Wordsworth; 13. Apeing romanticism Jonathan Bate; 14. A completl£]