A preface to Shakespeare's comedies : 1594-1603

Author(s)

• Mangan, Michael

Bibliographic Information

A preface to Shakespeare's comedies : 1594-1603

Michael Mangan

（Preface books）

Longman, 1996

• hbk
• pbk

Note

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

hbk ISBN 9780582094994

Description

This text sets out the contemporary theories and practices of comedy together with broader theories of comedy and the major themes they contain. An analysis of the major Shakespearan comedies and factual information about the contemporary scene is included here.

Volume

pbk ISBN 9780582095908

Description

This is an informative and interesting guide to the comedies of love - The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew, Love's Labour's Lost, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like it and Twelfth Night - which were written in the early part of Shakespeare's career. As well as supplying dramatic and critical analysis, this study sets the plays within their wider social and artistic context. Michael Mangan begins by considering the social function of laughter, the use of humour in drama for handling social tensions in Elizabethan and Jacobean society and the resulting expectations the audience would have had about comedy in the theatre. In the second section he discusses the individual plays in the light of recent critical and theoretical research. The useful reference section at the end gives the reader a short bibliographic guide to key historical figures relevant to a study of Shakespeare's comedies and a detailed critical bibliography.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations Prefaratory note and acknowledgements Prologue Shakespeare's England- an overview Part One: Contexts of Comedy 1 Laughter and Elizabethan Society 2 Fools, clowns and jesters 3 An audience for comedy 4 Twentieth century readers of comedy Part Two: Critical Analysis 5 Shakespeare's early comedies 1588-94 6 A Midsummer Night's Dream c.1595 7 Much Ado About Nothing 1598-9 8 As You Like It c. 1599 9 Twelfth Night Part Three: Reference Section Short Biographies Further Reading Appendix: The Theatre of Shakespeare's London Index

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BA27405368
• ISBN:
  • 0582094992
  • 0582095905
• Country Code: uk
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: London ; New York
• Pages/Volumes: viii, 300 p., [8] p. of plates
• Size: 23 cm
• Classification:
  • DC20 : 822.33
• Subject Headings:
  • BLSH : Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Comedies
  • LCSH : Comedy
• Parent Bibliography ID:
  • BA00354175