DOCSLIB.ORG

Ben Jonson's Every Man in His Humour

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR Oxford University Press I^^mdon Edinburgh Glasgoiv Neto Tork Toronto Melbourne Cape Town Bombay Humphrey Milford M.A, Publisher to the University BEN JONSON'S Every Man In His Humour Edited by PERCY SIMPSON OXFORD At the Clarendon Press MDCCCCXIX — f\z S5 im rr, ! lO PREFACEf\ A COMPLETE edition of Ben Jon son's Works by Professor C. H. Herford and the present editor has long been in preparation ; this edition of Every Man in his Humour is therefore in the nature of a pioneer volume. Three objects have been kept steadily in view in producing it —to print the authoritative text ; to solve the problem of its date and composition ; to illustrate its literary relations and its faithful picture of contemporary London. The critical apparatus concentrates on the early issues and so presents, unencumbered, the minuter variants of the 1^40 Folio changes of spelling and punctuation, which, in part at least, are Jonson's. Few conjectures are recorded, for the text is too sound to need any ; and it seemed futile to notice such trivialities as Gilford's occasional expansion of the contracted i' and o\ Jonson used them side by side with the fuller forms, and the precisian who meddles with them is not even precise. Mr. H. B. Wheatley's edition of the play has been consulted for its notes on London topography. The proofs have been read throughout by Mr. D. Nichol Smith and Mr. G. Thorn-Drury. Both have contributed very valuable criticism, and the latter also collated the text, supplying 361 VI Preface. some examples of early printer's variants unknown to the editor. Twenty-four years have elapsed since the first crude draft of the commentary was drawn up by a prentice hand ; but the pleasantest memories associated with the work are these informal discussions with friends at the final stage, throwing new light on points of literature and scholarship, Oxford. April, 19 1 9. CONTEN TS INTRODUCTION .... SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS Conical brackets, as ' <7o them.)' in the heading of v. ii, denote words or letters inserted in the text. Square brackets, as ' [To them.'] ' in the heading of iv. ix, denote words or letters of the original text which ought to be omitted. A. P. = Translation of the Ars Grflm. = The English Gram- Poetica. mar. A/ch.=rhe Alchemist. M. Z,. = The Magnetic Lady. B. /^. = Barthormew Fair, N.E. Z). = New English Dic- C. is ^. =The Case is Altered. tionary, Cj/.= Catiline. iSr./.=The New Inn. C./e. = Cynthia's Revels. N. and Q. = Notes and Queries. D. is y^.=The Devil is an Pof/. = Poetaster. Ass. (2. = Quarto of ' Every Man Z)ur. = Timber, or Discoveries. in his Humour', 160 1. £. E. T. 5.= Early English S. of N. = The Staple of News. Text Society. S. ^. = The Sad Shepherd. E. jfir.= Eastward Ho. S. W. = Epicoene, or The Silent E.M,0. = E\eTy Man out of Woman. his Humour. Sej. = Sejanus. Epig. = Epigrams. Stage ^/r. = Stage-direction. /; = Folio of 1616. T. o/'r. =A Taleof aTub. jp2= Folio of 1^40. Und. = Underwoods. i^3 = Folio of 1691. ^o^. = Volpone, or the Fox. /jr= identical text in Fi and F^. ^.=:Whalley (edition of Jon- G=GifFord(edition of Jonson's son's Works, 175^). Works, 1 8 1(5). INT RODUCTION I. THE QUARTO AND THE FOLIO TEXTS. Jonson's comedy of Every Man in his Humour was first acted in I J98 by the Chamberlain*s men, who were then playing at the Curtain theatre in Shoreditch. The Quarto title-page speaks of performances being given ' sundry times *. A letter of Tobie Mathew to Dudley Carleton on September 20, preserved among the State Papers, gives one date, evidently an early one, precisely. Mathew describes a French visitor at Nonesuch, well ' received in court circles : There were with him divers Almans, where of, one, lost out of his purse, at a play 3 hundred crownes. A new play called, Euery mans humour.' The reference to repeated performances implies a theatrical success. This was the tradition with regard to this comedy. Aubrey records that, after previous failures at the Curtain, Jonson ' vndertooke againe to write a Playe and hitt it admirably well, viz. Every man . w^h was his first good one ' (Aubrey MS. 8, fol. 108). Dryden says the same in the Essay of Dramatic Poesy. Shakespeare took a part in the performance. His name heads the actor-list which Jonson added to the Folio text, and the prominence thus given to him suggests that he played Lorenzo senior, the original form of the elder Kno'well. There is also a tradition that, when the manuscript was on the point of being rejected at the playhouse, Shakespeare intervened in its favour and finally got it accepted. Rowe, in the Account of Shakespeare prefixed to his edition of 1709, has preserved the tradition for us in a report ' Introduction. which is clearly open to criticism. There is exaggeration in the statement that Jonson ' was at that time altogether unknown to the world ', and in the picturesque account of the people at the playhouse turning the manuscript * carelessly and superciliously over, and Shakespeare Muckily casting his eye upon it'. But the main fact may be true. The play was first printed in Quarto in i^oi. But Jonson revised it with extreme care for the Folio edition of his Works published in i6i6. This is the version here reprinted. Two entries relating to the Quarto are found in the Stationers' Register in idoo. On August 4, * Euery man in his humour / a booke' is entered along with yis Tou Like It, King Henry the Fifth, and Much Ado about Nothing as one of * My lord chamberlens mens plaies ', the publication of which was ' to be staied '. The company was responsible for this entry, probably, as Mr. A. W. Pollard suggests,^ in order to secure the copyright and checkmate a possible pirate. Ten days later it was entered for Cuthbert Burby and Walter Burre, and it was published with Bune's imprint next year.^ The text of the collected edition of 1616 was issued from the press of William Stansby ; it is one of the best-printed books * See Shakespear^s Fight with the Pirates, pp. 45-6. ^ Burby died in 1607 ; two years later his widow transferred her share of the copyright to William Welby. Welby and Burre, there- fore, were joint holders of the copyright when the revised text appeared in the 1616 Folio. In 16 18 Welby assigned his share to Thomas Snodham, whose widow transferred it to William Stansby in 1626. In 1635 Stansby also secured the share of Walter Burre, in virtue of an assignment made by Burre and Lownes in 1621. Stansby died in 1638-9, and early in 1639 his widow assigned her copyrights to Richard Bishop, whose imprint appears on the title-page of the play in the 1640 Folio. EVERY MAN IN his Humor. As it hath beene fundry times puhlickly acled hy the right Honorable the Lord Cham- herlaine hisferuants. Written by Ben. Iohnson. ^lupd non dantproceres^dabit Hijlrio, Haud tamen inuidias vati^quem pulpitapafcunt. Imprinted at London for Walter Burre^ and are to bejouldat hisjhoppe in Paules Chunh-yarde, 1601. xii Introduction. of the seventeenth century, and the text is authoritative. Jonson. following what was then the custom of a careful author, went to the printing-house and corrected the sheets of the edition while it was actually passing through the press ; the character of the changes made in the text proves that they were author's, not compositor's, corrections. As the fact has been disputed, a test passage may be cited. It is taken from Sejanus^ at the close of the fourth act (Folio, p. 41?). Some senators discuss Tiberius* vacillating policy towards Sejanus, who is honoured one moment and deprived of the honour the next. Pomponius, who does not know how to time his flattery, says on hearing news hostile to the favourite, * By Castor, that 's the worst.' An honest bystander, Arruntius, exclaims in an aside, * By PoLLVX, best.' This is the reading of some copies of the Folio ; the fact that it is also the reading of the 160^ Quarto proves it to be the original. But most copies of the Folio print the speeches in an altered form : Pom. By Pollvx, that's the worst. (Arr. By Hercvles, best.) This is the final text, for the Folio of 1^40 reproduces it. Did a printer indulge in that shuffling of Roman gods, or should we naturally suppose that it was Jonson himself, stickling for some minute point of scholarship ? Well, the change was made on the authority of the Roman antiquary, Aulus Gellius, who stated that ' in old writings Roman women do not swear by Hercules, nor men by Castor ', but that both sexes might swear by Pollux.* Another striking change is in the flattery of ^ ' In veteribus scriptis neque mulieres Romanae per Herculem deierant, neque viri per Castorem. Aedipol autem, quod iusiurandum per PoUncem est, et viro et feminae commune est ' (Nodes Atticae, xi. 6). : ^ The Quarto and the Folio Texts, xiii Queen Elizabeth which rounded off the Court performance of Every Man out of his Humour. In the Quarto of 1600, printed during her lifetime, Macilente prays : ... I implore, O Heauen : that Shee (whose Figure hath effected This change in me) may neuer suffer Change In her Admir'd and happie Gouernment. (Sig. Q 4.) But she had been dead thirteen years when the Folio ' ' appeared ; so may neuer suffer change ' was toned down to may suffer most late change '—an echo of the prayer of Horace to Augustus Serus in caelum redeas diuque Laetus intersis populo Quirini.
Recommended publications
  • Albion Full Cast Announced

    Albion Full Cast Announced

    Press release: Thursday 2 January The Almeida Theatre announces the full cast for its revival of Mike Bartlett’s Albion, directed by Rupert Goold, following the play’s acclaimed run in 2017. ALBION by Mike Bartlett Direction: Rupert Goold; Design: Miriam Buether; Light: Neil Austin Sound: Gregory Clarke; Movement Director: Rebecca Frecknall Monday 3 February – Saturday 29 February 2020 Press night: Wednesday 5 February 7pm ★★★★★ “The play that Britain needs right now” The Telegraph This is our little piece of the world, and we’re allowed to do with it, exactly as we like. Yes? In the ruins of a garden in rural England. In a house which was once a home. A woman searches for seeds of hope. Following a sell-out run in 2017, Albion returns to the Almeida for four weeks only. Joining the previously announced Victoria Hamilton (awarded Best Actress at 2018 Critics’ Circle Awards for this role) and reprising their roles are Nigel Betts, Edyta Budnik, Wil Coban, Margot Leicester, Nicholas Rowe and Helen Schlesinger. They will be joined by Angel Coulby, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Dónal Finn and Geoffrey Freshwater. Mike Bartlett’s plays for the Almeida include his adaptation of Maxim Gorky’s Vassa, Game and the multi-award winning King Charles III (Olivier Award for Best New Play) which premiered at the Almeida before West End and Broadway transfers, a UK and international tour. His television adaptation of the play was broadcast on BBC Two in 2017. Other plays include Snowflake (Old Fire Station and Kiln Theatre); Wild; An Intervention; Bull (won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre); an adaptation of Medea; Chariots of Fire; 13; Decade (co-writer); Earthquakes in London; Love, Love, Love; Cock (Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre); Contractions and My Child Artefacts.
  • The Importance of Being Earnest SEETHU BABY MANGALAM 2020-2021 the Importance of Being Earnest Comedy of Manners

    The Importance of Being Earnest SEETHU BABY MANGALAM 2020-2021 the Importance of Being Earnest Comedy of Manners

    SUBJECT: BRITISH LITERATURE 19TH CENTURY TOPIC: The Importance of being Earnest SEETHU BABY MANGALAM 2020-2021 The Importance of being Earnest Comedy of Manners A Comedy of Manners is a play concerned with satirising society’s manners A manner is the method in which everyday duties are performed, conditions of society, or a way of speaking. It implies a polite and well-bred behaviour. Comedy of Manners is known as high comedy because it involves a sophisticated wit and talent in the writing of the script. In this sense it is both intellectual and very much the opposite of slapstick. Comedy of Manners In a Comedy of Manners however, there is often minimal physical action and the play may involve heavy use of dialogue. A Comedy of Manners usually employs an equal amount of both satire and farce resulting in a hilarious send-up of a particular social group. This was usually the middle to upper classes in society. The satire tended to focus on their materialistic nature, never-ending desire to gossip and hypocritical existence. Comedy of Manners The plot of such a comedy, usually concerned with an illicit love affair or similarly scandalous matter, is subordinate to the play’s brittle atmosphere, witty dialogue, and pungent commentary on human foibles. This genre is characterized by realism (art), social analysis and satire. These comedies held a mirror to the finer society of their age. These comedies are thus true pictures of the noble society of the age. This genre held a mirror to the high society of the Restoration Age.
  • Reading Jonson Historically

    Reading Jonson Historically

    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by The University of Sydney: Sydney eScholarship Journals online SYDNEY STUDIES Invading Interpreters and Politic Picklocks: Reading Jonson Historically IAN DONAIDSON A central problem in the methodology ofboth the new and 'old' historicism turns on the nature ofthe link that is assumed to exist between historical description and literary interpretation. The monolithic accounts ofElizabethan systems ofbelief assembled by so-called old historicists such as E.M.W. Tillyard (it is common these days to complain) seem often quite at variance with the diverse and at times rebellious energies ofthe literary texts which they are apparently devised to illuminate. Even inthe work of a more sophisticated old historicist such as L.C. Knights the supposedly related activities ofhistorical and literary investigation seem often to tug in contrary directions. The divergence is apparent, for example, in the very structure of Knights's influential study of Drama and Society in the Age of Jonson, the first half of which offers a stolid, Tawney-derived historical account ofeconomic conditions inEngland during the late Elizabethan, early Jacobean period (entitled 'The Background'), while the second half ('The Dramatists') advances livelier readings ofthe work ofindividual authors. The connections here between foreground and 'background', text and context, 'drama' and 'society', literature and history are quite loosely articulated and theoretically undeveloped.l A similar disjunction is often evident in the work of a new historicist such as Stephen Greenblatt, as he turns from a closely-worked meditation upon a particular and highly intriguing historical incident - often quirky in nature, but assumed also to be in some way exemplary - to ponder the particularities of a literary text.
  • Object Like Theirs Is Self-Perpetuation

    Object Like Theirs Is Self-Perpetuation

    Lehigh Preserve Institutional Repository Mapping significance : geographical musings on the three "hoe" plays Blaisdell, Theodore A. 1997 Find more at https://preserve.lib.lehigh.edu/ This document is brought to you for free and open access by Lehigh Preserve. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of Lehigh Preserve. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Blaisdell, Ted , Mapping Significance­ Geographical Musings on the Three "Hoe" Plays. June 1, 1997 ' Mapping Significance . Geographical Musings on the three "Hoe" Plays by Ted Blaisdell J A Thesis Presented to the Graduate and Research Committee of Lehigh University in Candid.acy for the Degree of Master ofArts in English Lehigh University April, 1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS ... Abstract Page 1 Text -- "Mapping Significance" Page 2 Bibliography Page 39 11 Abstract for "Mapping Significance" This study examines the use oftopography as a stylistic device in the Jacobean City Comedies. Beginningwith an examination ofthe critical history of this device and its relevance to current New Historical approaches to literary criticism, the paper then focuses specific attention on Westward Hoe, Eastward Hoe, and Northward Hoe, three collaborative City Comedies whose geographic· sensitivity with respect to the London river trade is revealed in their titles. The authors' employed the language ofposition and direction to provide relevance and depth to their plots and their characterizations. The authors portray London as a hub ofvirtue surrounded by the relative "viciousness" ofthe Suburbs and the Liberties. This characterization ofLondon as the center ofvirtue rests on a set of values valorizing the capitalistic principles offree trade and private property.
  • Part 1 Masque and Antimasque

    Part 1 Masque and Antimasque

    Corso di Laurea magistrale (ordinamento ex D.M. 270/2004) in Lingue e Letterature Europee, Americane e Postcoloniali Tesi di Laurea Topical Allusions on Stage. Elizabethan Courtly Spectacles and the Antimasque. Relatore Ch. Prof. Loretta Innocenti Correlatore Ch. Prof. Laura Tosi Laureando Sara Boldarin Matricola 823182 Anno Accademico 2012 / 2013 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 1 PART 1 MASQUE AND ANTIMASQUE: RISE AND DEVELOPMENT. 6 1. Masque ............................................................................................................ 7 1.1. A definition ......................................................................................... 7 1.2. Origins and development ........................................................................ 10 1.2.1. The inheritance from the Middle Ages ........................................... 10 1.2.2. The Tudor maske ............................................................................ 12 1.2.3. The Elizabethan mask ..................................................................... 13 1.2.4. The Stuart court masque ................................................................. 15 2. Antimasque ................................................................................................... 19 2.1. An overview ........................................................................................... 19 2.2. A curious line of development ...............................................................
  • Module-9 Background Prose Readings COMEDY and TRAGEDY

    Module-9 Background Prose Readings COMEDY and TRAGEDY

    Module-9 Background Prose Readings COMEDY AND TRAGEDY What is comedy? The word ‘Comedy’ has been derived the French word comdie, which in turn is taken from the Greeco-Latin word Comedia. The word comedia is made of two words komos, which means revel and aeidein means to sing. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, comedy means a branch of drama, which deals with everyday life and humourous events. It also means a play of light and amusing type of theatre. Comedy may be defined as a play with a happy ending. Function of Comedy Though, there are many functions of comedy, yet the most important and visible function of comedy is to provide entertainment to the readers. The reader is forced to laugh at the follies of various characters in the comedy. Thus, he feels jubilant and forgets the humdrum life. George Meredith, in his Idea of Comedy, is of the view that comedy appeals to the intelligence unadulterated and unassuming, and targets our heads. In other words, comedy is an artificial play and its main function is to focus attention on what ails the world. Comedy is critical, but in its scourge of folly and vice. There is no contempt or anger in a comedy. He is also of the view that the laughter of a comedy is impersonal, polite and very near to a smile. Comedy exposes and ridicules stupidity and immorality, but without the wrath of the reformer. Kinds of Comedy 1. Classical Comedy Classical comedy is a kind of comedy, wherein the author follows the classical rules of ancient Greek and Roman writers.
  • Anglica 25-3 Special Issue.Indd

    Anglica 25-3 Special Issue.Indd

    Magdalena Tomaszewska University of Warsaw Some Remarks on Shall’s and a Hypothesis of its Origin Abstract The present study focuses on the origin of the idiom shall’s ‘shall we’ in two corpora: the online database The Collected Works of Shakespeare and a corpus of Ben Jonson works compiled on the basis of online html texts linked to the webpage Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. The Works of Ben Jonson. The paper discusses available accounts of the issue off ered by late nineteenth and early twentieth century linguists and juxtaposes them with new fi ndings and observations. The author analyzes data concerning shall’s, shall us, shall we, let’s and let us to suggest a new hypothesis on the potential rise of shall’s, i.e. that the idiom resulted from a blending of shall we and let’s. The main focus of the present article is the construction shall’s ‘shall we’ found six times in William Shakespeare’s and once in Ben Jonson’s works. What follows is a review of available accounts and a discussion of fi ndings. The starting point of the study was provided by the online database The Collected Works of Shake- speare (here referred to as the Shakespeare corpus), which consists of (1) (a) histories: Henry VI (3 parts), Richard III, Richard II, King John, Henry IV (2 parts), Henry V, Henry VIII; (b) tragedies: Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, Timon of Athens, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus; (c) comedies: The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew, The Comedy of Errors, Love’s
  • James Corden to Take Over 'Late Late Show' for Ferguson

    James Corden to Take Over 'Late Late Show' for Ferguson

    James Corden to Take Over 'Late Late Show' for Ferguson 09.08.2014 ​After weeks of speculation surrounding Craig Ferguson's possible replacement in his 12:35 a.m. time slot, CBS has officially announced that yes indeed, British comedian James Corden will take his place next year as host of The Late Late Show. Corden is a 36-year-old actor, comedian and TV personality who has appeared in U.K. series Gavin and Stacey and BBC/Hulu's The Wrong Mans, which he also co-created. He also starred in Begin Again, as well as upcoming films One Chance and Into the Woods. Currently he hosts Sky 1's comedy game show A League of Their Own in the U.K. Nina Tassler, chairman of CBS Entertainment, calls Corden "the ultimate multi-hyphenate - a writer, creator and performer who is loved and respected in every medium he touches, including theater, comedy, music, film and television. James is already a big star in the U.K. and he's wowed American audiences on Broadway; we're very excited to introduce his considerable and very unique talents to our network television audience on a daily basis." Tassler told The Hollywood Reporter that the choice was largely based on Corden's broad range in the entertainment business: he has appeared on (and won awards for) TV, film and theater, with a strong social media following thrown in. "In this day and age, certain actors come to your attention and you can't stop following him, and James is one of those talents," said Tassler.
  • Ben Jonson and the Mirror: Folly Knows No Gender

    Ben Jonson and the Mirror: Folly Knows No Gender

    Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 6-2001 Ben Jonson and The Mirror: Folly Knows No Gender Sherry Broadwell Niewoonder Western Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the Classical Literature and Philology Commons, English Language and Literature Commons, and the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Recommended Citation Niewoonder, Sherry Broadwell, "Ben Jonson and The Mirror: Folly Knows No Gender" (2001). Dissertations. 1382. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/1382 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BEN JONSON AND THE MIRROR: FOLLY KNOWS NO GENDER by Sherry Broadwell Niewoonder A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan June 2001 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BEN JONSON AND THE M IR R O R : FO LLY KNOWS NO GENDER Sherry Broadwell Niewoonder, Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 2001 Ben Jonson, Renaissance poet and playwright, has been the subject of renewed evaluation in recent scholarship, particularly new historicism and cultural materialism. The consensus among some current scholars is that Jonson overtly practices and advocates misogyny in his dramas. Such theorists suggest that Jonson both embodies and promulgates the anti­ woman rhetoric of his time, basing their position on contemporary cultural material, religious tracts, and the writings of King James I.
  • Playwright and Minister

    Playwright and Minister

    PLAYWRIGHT AND MAN OF GOD: RELIGION AND CONVENTION IN THE COMIC PLAYS OF JOHN MARSTON by Blagomir Georgiev Blagoev A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of English University of Toronto © Copyright by Blagomir Georgiev Blagoev (2010) PLAYWRIGHT AND MAN OF GOD: RELIGION AND CONVENTION IN THE COMIC PLAYS OF JOHN MARSTON Blagomir Georgiev Blagoev Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of English University of Toronto 2010 ABSTRACT John Marston’s literary legacy has inevitably existed in the larger-than-life shadows of his great contemporaries William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. In the last two centuries, his works were hardly taken on their own terms but were perceived instead in overt or implicit comparison to Shakespeare’s or Jonson’s. As a result, Marston’s plays acquired the lasting but unfair image of haphazard concoctions whose cheap sensationalism and personal satire often got them in trouble with the authorities. This was the case until recently, especially with Marston’s comic drama. Following revisionist trends, this study sets out to restore some perspective: it offers a fresh reading of Marston’s comic plays and collaborations—Antonio and Mellida, What You Will, Jack Drum’s Entertainment, The Dutch Courtesan, The Malcontent, Parasitaster, Eastward Ho, and Histrio-Mastix—by pursuing a more nuanced contextualization with regard to religious context and archival evidence. The first central contention here is that instead of undermining political and religious authority, Marston’s comic drama can demonstrate consistent conformist and conservative affinities, which imply a seriously considered agenda. This study’s second main point is that the perceived failures of Marston’s comic plays—such as tragic ii elements, basic characterization, and sudden final reversals—can be plausibly read as deliberate effects, designed with this agenda in mind.
  • Grumpy Old Humorist Tells All: Three Short Essays on Writing, Plus Random Thoughts on Same by Ed Mcclanahan

    Grumpy Old Humorist Tells All: Three Short Essays on Writing, Plus Random Thoughts on Same by Ed Mcclanahan

    224 Ed McClanahan Grumpy Old Humorist Tells All: Three Short Essays On Writing, Plus Random Thoughts on Same by Ed McClanahan —“I can read readin’, but I can’t read writin’. The reason I can’t read writin’ is, it’s wrote too close to the paper.” —Clem Kadiddlehpopper When book reviewers deign to notice that I exist at all, they tend to refer to me as (among other lower life forms) a “humorist.” I’m always flattered, of course, to be nominated for the post, but I’m afraid I must politely decline to run, on the grounds that it would entail too much responsibility, trying to be funny all the time. The fact is, at my age, being funny ain’t really all that easy—or, to put it another way, being my age ain’t really all that funny . or, for that matter, all that easy either. We’ve all heard it said—usually of some poor, befuddled old bird like me—that “he’s taken leave of his senses.” What actually happens, though, is that our senses often pre- empt us to the punch, and take their own leave almost before we suspect they’re even contemplating a separation, much less a divorce. Corrective measures may, of course, sometimes be taken; cataract surgery is a wonder and a marvel, and I suppose there’s probably one of those “almost invisible” hearing aids circling my head at this very mo- ment, looking for an ear to build its unsightly nest in. My sense of smell has long since abandoned me (an impairment which, having its own occasional compensations, doesn’t even qualify me for disability assistance); and when it left, it took with it a disheartening measure of my sense of taste—so that, at dinnertime, I sit there grieving silently while everyone else is saying grace.
  • Contribution of Ben Jonson to Development of the English Renaissance Comedy

    Contribution of Ben Jonson to Development of the English Renaissance Comedy

    УДК: 821.111.09-22 Џонсон Б. ИД: 195292940 Оригинални научни рад ДОЦ. ДР СЛОБОДАН Д. ЈОВАНОВИЋ1 Факултет за правне и пословне студије „др Лазар Вркатић” Катедра за англистику, Нови Сад CONTRIBUTION OF BEN JONSON TO DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH RENAISSANCE COMEDY Abstract. Ben Jonson’s Works, published in 1616, included all his comedies written that far, and meant an important precedent which helped to establish drama as lit- erary kind comparable to the rest of literature. Before that date, drama was regarded as un- worthy of the name of literature, and Jonson was the first to give it its new dignity. His comedies written after 1616 were usually published immediately after they were acted. Jonson’s theoretical interests were an expression of his intellectual aristocratism and his realistic temperament. He took pride in being able to create comedies according to the best scientific rules, and felt superior to those who made them by sheer talent. Jonson was the only theoretician among the English Renaissance dramatists, but although he was ready to fight for his rules, his application of them was broad and elastic. In his comedies there are many departures from classical models, often modified by his keen observation of every- day English life. The theory he adhered to was an abstract and rigid kind of realism, which in his practice was transformed by his gift of observation and his moral zeal into a truly realistic and satirical comic vision of life. Key words: comedy, drama, theory, classical models, everyday English life, realism, satire. 1 [email protected] 348 Зборник радова Филозофског факултета XLII (1)/2012 EXCEPTIONAL PERSONALITY, OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION Benjamin or Ben Jonson (1573?-1637) was the central literary personality of the first two decades of the XVII century.