Publisher:
The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington
If the Renaissance was the Golden Age of English comedy, the Restoration was the Silver. These comedies are full of tricksters attempting to gain estates, the emblem and the reality of power in late feudal England. The tricksters appear in a number...
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If the Renaissance was the Golden Age of English comedy, the Restoration was the Silver. These comedies are full of tricksters attempting to gain estates, the emblem and the reality of power in late feudal England. The tricksters appear in a number of guises, such as heroines landing their men, younger brothers seeking estates, or Cavaliers threatened with dispossession. The hybrid nature of these plays has long posed problems for critics, and few studies have attempted to deal with their diversity in a comprehensive way. Now one of the leading scholars of Restoration drama offers a cultural h
Cover; Half-title; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Preface; A Note on Texts; Introduction; A THEORETICAL WORD ABOUT GENERIC DISTINCTIONS; TRICKSTERS AND ESTATES; TRICKSTERS, ESTATES, AND SCRAMBLED EGGS: THE MAN OF MODE IN ITS CONTEXT; SHAD WELL AT THE CROSSROADS OF POWER: SPA AS MICROCOSM IN EPSOM WELLS; Part 1: Social Comedy; 1. Nubile Tricksters Land Their Men; 2. Mature Women Tricksters Man Their Land; 3. Eligible Male Tricksters Get into the Deed; 4. Some Tricksters Get Tricked; 5. Town Tricksters Tup Their Rivals' Women; 6. Satiric Butts Get Disciplined; Part 2: Subversive Comedy
7. Town Tricksters Tup Each Other's Women8. Naughty Heroine Tricksters Get Away with It; 9. Male Folk Tricksters Erupt from Below; 10. Female Folk Tricksters Climb on Top; Part 3: Comical Satire; 11. Tricksters Scourge and Get Scourged; 12. Tricksters Get Blown about by the Wind; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index; Index of Characters
