William Congreve

The Way of the World (eBook, ePUB)

New Edition

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Hero longing for heiress. Obstacles in the way. Marriage eventually secured. It sounds simple. But the lasting appeal of this, one of the most performed and discussed of all Restoration plays, lies in Congreve's sophisticated grasp of plot, back-story, characterization and language. Set in high-society London, his comic masterpiece features scenes of uproarious comedy, Machiavellian scheming and devastating wit. Its sparring between sexes is enchanting but shadowed by melancholy and the ethical uncertainty latent in the title. If this is the way of the world, are we supposed to cheer, despair, or shrug our shoulders?

In this new edition of William Congreve's The Way of the World, David Roberts peels back the layers of the plot to tell the story of the play's stage and critical history from 1700 to the present day, bringing voices from universities and theatres into debate about this enigmatic landmark in English comedy.

Supplemented by a plot summary and annotated bibliography, it is ideal for students of Congreve, comedy and early modern drama.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK eBooks
• Seitenzahl: 184
• Erscheinungstermin: 11. Juni 2020
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781350106413
• Artikelnr.: 59399919

Autorenporträt

William Congreve (1670-1729) was an English playwright, and one of the most sophisticated exponent of the comedy of manners during the Restoration era. Congreve wrote five plays before he was 30. His first, The Old Bachelor, was an enormous success at Drury Lane in 1693, in a production starring Thomas Betterton and Mrs Bracegirdle. According to Congreve he wrote the play to amuse himself during a convalescence. The Double Dealer (1694) was not so well received but in 1695 he produced another hit, Love for Love (again with Betterton and Mrs Bracegirdle), to open the new Lincoln's Inns Fields Theatre. Its success secured his reputation and earned him a share in the theatre. His promise to write at least one play a year for the theatre of which he was now a part owner, was unfortunately not fulfilled. Congreve's only tragedy, The Mourning Bride (1697), was his most popular work during his lifetime but is now rarely seen. It starred Mrs Bracegirdle as Almeria, a part that became much coveted by tragic actresses. In 1700 The Way of the World - a highly sophisticated and complex work now considered his masterpiece - met with a cool reception. This failure, together with his continued discomfort at having been attacked in Jeremy Collier's influential pamphlet A Short View of the Profaneness and Immorality of the English Stage (1698), persuaded him to retire. (Congreve had replied to Collier with little effect in Amendments of Mr Collier's False and Imperfect Citations.) Voltaire later visited him and accused him of wasting his genius. Congreve told him he wished to be visited as a gentleman, not as an author. To this Voltaire replied that if Mr Congreve were only a gentleman, he would not have bothered to call upon him. Congreve was by all accounts a warm man who won the love and respect of his many friends. John Dryden called him the equal of Shakespeare, Alexander Pope dedicated his translation of the Iliad to him in 1715, and John Gay called him an 'unreproachful man'. When he died he left nearly all of his £10,000 estate to his mistress, Henrietta, the second Duchess of Marlborough, who arranged for his burial in Westminster Abbey.