Author: Aphra BehnPublisher: Joe Books Ltd
ISBN: 1987955684
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 190
Book Description
The magic of Naples during Carnival inspires love between a disparate group of local citizens and visiting Englishmen.
Oroonoko, the Rover and Other Works
Author: Aphra BehnPublisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141958871
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 461
Book Description
When Prince Oroonoko’s passion for the virtuous Imoinda arouses the jealousy of his grandfather, the lovers are cast into slavery and transported from Africa to the colony of Surinam. Oroonoko’s noble bearing soon wins the respect of his English captors, but his struggle for freedom brings about his destruction. Inspired by Aphra Behn’s visit to Surinam, Oroonoko (1688) reflects the author’s romantic view of Native Americans as simple, superior peoples ‘in the first state of innocence, before men knew how to sin’. The novel also reveals Behn’s ambiguous attitude to African slavery – while she favoured it as a means to strengthen England’s power, her powerful and moving work conveys its injustice and brutality.
The Rover and Other Plays
Author: Aphra BehnPublisher: Oxford Paperbacks
ISBN: 9780199540204
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 432
Book Description
Aphra Behn was both successful and controversial in her own lifetime; her achievements are now recognized less equivocally and her plays demonstrate wit, compassion, and remarkable range. This edition brings together her most important comedies. Detailed annotation helps the reader to visualize the plays in performance and the Introduction argues for the importance of Behn's skilful stagecraft and her great success as an entertainer. Includes: The Rover; The Feigned Courtesans; The Lucky Chance; The Emperor of the Moon.
The Secret Life of Aphra Behn
Author: Janet ToddPublisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1448212545
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 830
Book Description
'All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn; for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds,' said Virginia Woolf. Yet that tomb, in Westminster Abbey, records one of the few uncontested facts about this Restoration playwright, poet, novelist and spy: the date of her death, 16 April 1689. For the rest secrecy and duplicity are almost the key to her life. She loved codes, making and breaking them; writing her life becomes a decoding of a passionate but playful woman. Janet Todd draws on documents she has rediscovered in the Dutch archives, and on Behn's own writings, to tell a story of court, diplomatic and sexual intrigue, and of the rise from humble origins of the first woman to earn her living as a professional writer. Aphra Behn's first notable employment was as a Royal spy in Holland; she had probably also spied in Surinam. It was not until she was in her thirties that she published the first of the 19 plays and other works which established her fame (though not riches) among her 'good, sweet, honey-candied readers'. Many of her works were openly erotic, indeed as frank as anything by her friends Wycherley and Rochester. Some also offered an inside view of court and political intrigues, and Todd reveals the historical scandals and legal cases behind some of Behn's most famous 'fictions'.
The School for Scandal and Other Plays
Author: Richard Brinsley SheridanPublisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191605131
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 496
Book Description
Richly exploited comic situations, effervescent wit, and intricate plots combine to make Sheridan's work among the best of of all English comedy. The School for Scandal (1777) is his masterpiece, a brilliantly crafted comedy of contrasts in which brothers Joseph and Charles Surface contend for Maria, with hilariously differing intentions and results. Also a work of acute comic irony, The Rivals satirizes the romantic posturing of Lydia Languish while her disguised suitor Captain Absolute's resourceful contrivances advance an ever inventive and skilfully wrought plot. Included in this edition are the opera play The Duenna and the rarely printed musical play A Trip to Scarborough, adapted from Vanbrugh's The Relapse. Sheridan's last play, The Critic, is an exuberant parody of the modish tragic drama of the day. Lampooning Sir Fretful Plagiary's absurdly bombastic historical drama during its confused stages of production, its satire never fails to delight. The texts of the plays have been newly edited by the General Editor of the Oxford World's Classics English Drama series. A fine introduction and notes on Sheridan's playhouses and critical inheritance make this an invaluable edition for study and performance alike. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
The Way of the World and Other Plays
Author: William CongrevePublisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141938080
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 654
Book Description
With piercing accuracy William ongreve depicted the shallow, brittle world of 'society' where the right artifice in manners, fashion and conversation--and money--eased the passage to success. Through sparkling, witty dialogue and brilliant characterisation--Lady Plyant, Valentine, Lady Touchwood, Mirabell and Millamant--Congreve exposed the follies and vanities of that world, and suggested that behind the glinting mirror lay something more brutal. 'The language is everywhere that of Men of Honour, but their Actions are those of Knaves; a proof that he was perfectly well acquainted with human Nature, and frequented what we call polite company.' --Voltaire 'Congreve quitted the stage in disdain, and comedy left it with him.' --A contemporary
"The Rover" and Other Plays
Author: Aphra BehnPublisher:
ISBN: 9780192834515
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 430
Book Description
Behn (1640-89) was both successful and controversial in her own lifetime; her achievements are now recognized less equivocally and her plays, often revived, demonstrate wit, compassion and remarkable range. This volume collects her most important comedies with annotation and modernized spelling.
The Rover
Author: Aphra BehnPublisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780192834515
Category : English drama (Comedy)
Languages : en
Pages : 436
Book Description
Aphra Behn (1640-89) was both successful and controversial in her own lifetime; her achievements are now recognized less equivocally and her plays, often revived, demonstrate wit, compassion and remarkable range. This edition brings together her most important comedies in a single volume: The Rover, her best-known play; The Feigned Courtesans, a lively comedy of intrigue; The Lucky Chance, a comedy with a bitter edge, which takes a satirical look at marriage customs; and the dazzling and popular farce, The Emperor of the Moon. All the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation.
Author: The Relapse and Other Plays
Author: John VanbrughPublisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 9780191517839
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 432
Book Description
The Relapse * The Provoked Wife * The Confederacy * A Journey to London * The Country House These five comedies on the theme of marital disharmony by the foremost Restoration playwright John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) are published in the Oxford English Drama series. The texts are freshly edited using modern spelling. There is a critical introduction, wide-ranging annotation, and an informative bibliography which together illuminate the plays' cultural context and theatrical potential for reader and performer alike. 'The series should reshape the canon in a number of significant areas. A splendid and imaginative project.' Professor Anne Barton, Cambridge University ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
