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9780813227870 Academic Inspection Copy

Drama in English From the Middle Ages to the Early Twentieth Century

An Anthology of Plays with Old Spelling
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At a time when good editions of drama in English are prohibitively expensive and online texts are unedited and lack the apparatus necessary for students to understand and contextualize the plays, this anthology affordably illustrates every significant genre of drama in the English language from the late fourteenth century to the early twentieth century, with plays from England, Ireland, and the United States of America. The mystery and morality plays of the Middle Ages, Renaissance comedy, tragedy and meta-theater, Restoration and eighteenth-century comedy, tragedy, and ballad opera, nineteenth-century melodrama, and early twentieth century realism and naturalism are all presented with the introductions, glossaries and notes suitable for a college level reader by an editor with a quarter of a century of experience teaching courses onthe history of drama in English. The plays both reflect their times and critique them, while remaining stageable today. The Wakefield Master, The York Realist, Marlowe, Jonson, Dryden, Wycherley, Gay, Boucicault, Synge, and Shaw are some of the playwrights in this representative collection of plays that reveal both the popular appeal of the English language theater and the dazzling dramatic artistry it embodied over a period of six centuries. Further the collection is in "old spelling" and is thus a useful sourcebook for those interested in the history of the English language.
Christopher J. Wheatley is ordinary professor of English at the Catholic University of America, USA.
"In an age like this one, where literature anthologies are increasingly filled with supplementary sections on critical contexts, historical perspectives, textual cross currents, and cultural resonances, it is refreshing to find a minimalist approach like that of Christopher J. Wheatley's Drama in English. This collection is intentionally hands off on every level, from Wheatley's spartan editorial notes and introductions to his preservation of original spellings, and the result is a reminder that plays - even old ones- can be both unadorned and highly readable...As a basic textbook for freshman and sophomore drama survey courses, the works selected show an engaging individuality."--Greenfield, Anne, Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research
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