Shakespeare's festive comedy [electronic resource] : a study of dramatic form and its relation to social custom / C.L. Barber.

ISBN:

9781400839858

Title:

Author:

Barber, C. L. (Cesar Lombardi)

Personal Author:

Barber, C. L. (Cesar Lombardi)

Edition:

New ed. / with a new foreword by Stephen Greenblatt.

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 301 pages)

General Note:

First printing 1959.

Contents:

One. Introduction: The Saturnalian Pattern -- Through Release to Clarification -- Shakespeare's Route to Festive Comedy -- Two. Holiday Custom And Entertainment -- The May Game -- The Lord of Misrule -- Aristocratic Entertainments -- Three. Misrule as Comedy; Comedy as Misrule -- License and Lese Majesty in Lincolnshire -- The May Game of Martin Marprelate -- Four. Prototypes of Festive Comedy in a Pageant Entertainment: Summer's Last Will and Testament -- "What can be made of Summer's last will and testament?" -- Presenting the Mirth of the Occasion -- Praise of Folly: Bacchus and Falstaff -- Festive Abuse -- "Go not yet away, bright soul of the sad year" -- Five. The Folly of Wit and Masquerade in Love's Labour's Lost -- "lose our oaths to find ourselves" -- "sport by sport o'erthrown" -- "a great feast of languages" -- Wit -- Putting Witty Folly in Its Place -- "When...Then..." -- The Seasonal Songs

Six. May Games and Metamorphoses on a Midsummer Night -- The Fond Pageant -- Bringing in Summer to the Bridal -- Magic as Imagination: The Ironic Wit -- Moonlight and Moonshine: The Ironic Burlesque -- The Sense of Reality -- Seven. The Merchants and the Jew of Venice: Wealth's Communion and an Intruder -- Making Distinctions about the Use of Riches -- Transcending Reckoning at Belmont -- Comical/Menacing Mechanism in Shylock -- The Community Setting Aside Its Machinery -- Sharing in the Grace of Life -- Eight. Rule and Misrule in Henry IV -- Mingling Kings and Clowns -- Getting Rid of Bad Luck by Comedy -- The Trial of Carnival in Part Two -- Nine. The Alliance of Seriousness and Levity in as You Like It -- The Liberty of Arden -- Counterstatements -- "all nature in love mortal in folly" -- Ten. Testing Courtesy and Humanity in Twelfth Night -- "A most extracting frenzy" -- "You are betroth'd both to a maid and man" -- Liberty Testing Courtesy

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Manners and customs in literature.

Festivals in literature.

Literature and society -- England -- History -- 16th century.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2012

1959

Publication Information:

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
822.33 23	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

In this classic work, acclaimed Shakespeare critic C. L. Barber argues that Elizabethan seasonal festivals such as May Day and Twelfth Night are the key to understanding Shakespeare's comedies. Brilliantly interweaving anthropology, social history, and literary criticism, Barber traces the inward journey--psychological, bodily, spiritual--of the comedies: from confusion, raucous laughter, aching desire, and aggression, to harmony. Revealing the interplay between social custom and dramatic form, the book shows how the Elizabethan antithesis between everyday and holiday comes to life in the comedies' combination of seriousness and levity.

"I have been led into an exploration of the way the social form of Elizabethan holidays contributed to the dramatic form of festive comedy. To relate this drama to holiday has proved to be the most effective way to describe its character. And this historical interplay between social and artistic form has an interest of its own: we can see here, with more clarity of outline and detail than is usually possible, how art develops underlying configurations in the social life of a culture."--C. L. Barber, in the Introduction

This new edition includes a foreword by Stephen Greenblatt, who discusses Barber's influence on later scholars and the recent critical disagreements that Barber has inspired, showing that Shakespeare's Festive Comedy is as vital today as when it was originally published.

Author Notes

C. L. Barber was a fellow of the Folger Shakespeare Library and a world-renowned Shakespeare scholar. His books include The Whole Journey: Shakespeare's Power of Development and Creating Elizabethan Tragedy: The Theater of Marlowe and Kyd.

Stephen greenblatt

Foreword	p. xi
Preface xvii
Chapter 1 Introduction: The Saturnalian Pattern	p. 1
Through Release to Clarification	p. 5
Shakespeare's Route to Festive Comedy	p. 10
Chapter 2 holiday custom and entertainment	p. 16
The May Game	p. 19
The Lord of Misrule	p. 25
Aristocratic Entertainments	p. 32
Chapter 3 Misrule as Comedy; Comedy as Misrule	p. 39
License and Lese Majesty in Lincolnshire	p. 40
The May Game of Martin Marprelate	p. 56
Chapter 4 Prototypes of Festive Comedy in a Pageant Entertainment: Summer's Last Will and Testament	p. 64
"What can be made of Summer's last will and testament?"	p. 64
Presenting the Mirth of the Occasion	p. 68
Praise of Folly: Bacchus and Falstaff	p. 75
Festive Abuse	p. 82
"Go not yet away, bright soul of the sad year"	p. 90
Chapter 5 The Folly of Wit and Masquerade in Love's Labour's Lost	p. 98
"lose our oaths to find ourselves"	p. 100
"sport by sport o'erthrown"	p. 105
"a great feast of languages"	p. 107
Wit	p. 112
Putting Witty Folly in Its Place	p. 116
"When . . . Then . . ."--The Seasonal Songs	p. 128
Chapter 6 May Games and Metamorphoses on a Midsummer Night	p. 135
The Fond Pageant	p. 141
Bringing in Summer to the Bridal	p. 149
Magic as Imagination: The Ironic Wit	p. 159
Moonlight and Moonshine: The Ironic Burlesque	p. 168
The Sense of Reality	p. 179
Chapter 7 The Merchants and the Jew of Venice: Wealth's Communion and an Intruder	p. 185
Making Distinctions about the Use of Riches	p. 188
Transcending Reckoning at Belmont	p. 197
Comical/Menacing Mechanism in Shylock	p. 201
The Community Setting Aside Its Machinery	p. 209
Sharing in the Grace of Life	p. 212
Chapter 8 Rule and Misrule in henry iv	p. 219
Mingling Kings and Clowns	p. 223
Getting Rid of Bad Luck by Comedy	p. 234
The Trial of Carnival in Part Two	p. 243
Chapter 9 The Alliance of Seriousness and Levity in A You Like It	p. 252
The Liberty of Arden	p. 254
Counterstatements	p. 257
"all nature in love mortal in folly"	p. 260
Chapter 10 Testing Courtesy and Humanity in Twelfth Night	p. 272
"A most extracting frenzy"	p. 275
"You are betroth'd both to a maid and man"	p. 277
Liberty Testing Courtesy	p. 281
Outside the Garden Gate	p. 292
Index	p. 297

Available:*

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Table of Contents