Metadrama and the informer in Shakespeare and Jonson / Bill Angus.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Angus, Bill, author.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Criticism and interpretation.

Shakespeare, William.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

233 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2016.

Summary:

Have you ever wondered what was really going on in the inner-plays, secret overhearing and tacit observations of early modern drama? Taking on the shadowy figure of the early modern informer, this book argues that far more than mere artistic experimentation is happening here. In case studies of metadramatic plays, and the devices which Shakespeare and Jonson constantly revisit, this book offers critical insight into intrinsic connections between informers and authors, discovering an uneasy sense of common practice at the core of the metadrama, which drives both its self-awareness and its paranoia. Drama is most self-revealing at these moments where it reflects upon its own dramatic register: where it is most metadramatic. To understand their metadrama is therefore to understand these most seminal authors in a new way. Key Features, Offers a fresh insight into the internal workings and motivations of Shakespeare and Jonson's dramatic structures, Opens a new window on the ambitions, concerns and fears of these important authors, Enhances historical understanding of the structures of authority within which the drama was produced, and the place of the informer in those structures Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Hamlet's 'lawful espials': Metadrama, Tainted Authority and the Ubiquitous Informer 41

2 Every Man In and Out: Metadramatic Ideals and Harsh Realities 66

3 Sympathy for the Informer: Iago, Volpone and Other Metadramatic Authors 92

4 'Masters both of arts and lies': Metadrama and the Informer in Poetaster and Sejanus 115

5 Falstaff, Hal, Coriolanus: Metadrama and the Authority of Policy 136

6 'Three Cranes, Mitre, and Mermaid men': Metadramatic Self-Deprecation and Authority in Bartholomew Fair 161

7 'Ministers of Fate': Politic Oversight and Ideal Authorities 180

8 Onstage Overviews: Metadrama and the Information Market 205.

ISBN:

1474415113

9781474415118

OCLC:

969422011