Soldier, satirist, duellist, principal masque-writer to the early Stuart court, tutor to the son of Sir Walter Ralegh, and Shakespeare's greatest contemporary, Ben Jonson was a complex and volatile character. Ian Donaldson's new biography draws on freshly discovered writings by and about Jonson to provide a vivid depiction of his remarkable life. Ben Jonson was the greatest of Shakespeare's contemporaries. In the century following his death he was seen by many as the finest of all English writers, living or dead. His fame rested not only on the numerous plays he had written for the theatre, but on his achievements over three decades as principal masque-writer to the early Stuart court, where he had worked in creative, and often stormy, collaboration with Inigo Jones. One of the most accomplished poets of the age, he hadbecome - in fact if not in title - the first Poet Laureate in England.Jonson's life was full of drama. Serving in the Low Countries as a young man, he overcame a Spanish adversary in single combat in full view of both the armies. His early satirical play, The Isle of Dogs, landed him in prison, and brought all theatrical activity in London to a temporary -- and very nearly to a permanent -- standstill. He was 'almost at the gallows' for killing a fellow actor after a quarrel, and converted to Catholicism while awaiting execution. He supped with theGunpowder conspirators on the eve of their planned coup at Westminster. After satirizing the Scots in Eastward Ho! he was imprisoned again; and throughouthis career was repeatedly interrogated about plays and poems thought to contain seditious or slanderous material. In his middle years, twenty stone inweight, he walked to Scotland and back, seemingly partly to fulfil a wager, and partly to see the land of his forebears. He travelled in Europe as tutor to the mischievous son of Sir Walter Ralegh, who 'caused him to be drunken and dead drunk' and wheeled provocatively through the streets of Paris. During his later years he presided over a sociable club in the Apollo Room in Fleet Street, mixed with the most learned scholars of his day, and viewed with keen interest the political, religious,and scientific controversies of the day.Ian Donaldson's new biography draws on freshly discovered writings by and about Ben Jonson, and locates his work within the social and intellectual contexts of his time. Jonson emerges from this study as a more complex and volatile character than his own self-declarations (and much modern scholarship) would allow, and as a writer whose work strikingly foresees - and at times pre-emptively satirizes - the modern age. Absorbing biography Fascinating portrait...brilliant biography Authoritative and lucid biography Definitive biography of this quarrelsome playwright. The biographical material on Jonson is extraordinarily rich...Donaldson's fine book is stocked with new material Exemplary new biography...rich in detail and insights A work of clarity and lucidity, exact in its historical detail, full of new material and ingeniously suggestive in its conjecture and interpretation. Donaldson is ideally placed to write the definitive life, and he has done so.' INDICE: List of illustrations Note on texts and dating Prologue: The Biographer's Bones Scotland 1618-1619 Debatable Land 1542-1572 Influences 1572-1588Conflicts 1588-1592 Entering the Theatre 1594-1597 Saved by the Book 1597-1598 Global Satire 1598-1601 The Wolf's Black Jaw 1601-1603 Scots, Plots, and Panegyrics 1603-1605 Following the Plot 1606-7 Communities 1607-1612 City, Theatre, Court 1610-1612 Travels 1611-1613 Fame 1613-1616 Money 1614-1617 Scholarship 1619-1630 Lateness 1619-1637 Remembrance with Posterity Acknowledgements
- ISBN: 978-0-19-812976-9
- Editorial: Oxford University
- Encuadernacion: Cartoné
- Páginas: 560
- Fecha Publicación: 27/10/2011
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés