Volpone's Bastards : : Theorising Jonson's City Comedy / / Isaac Hui.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Edinburgh University Press Complete eBook-Package 2018
• VerfasserIn: Hui, Isaac,
• Place / Publishing House: Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press, , [2022]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (192 p.)

Brings Ben Jonson to the twenty-first century by reading Volpone through psychoanalysis, poststructuralism and MarxismThrough studying Volpone’s three bastard children ̶ the dwarf, the androgyne and the eunuch ̶ from the theoretical argument of Freud, Lacan, Derrida and Foucault, this book discusses how Jonson’s comedies are built upon the tension between death, castration and nothingness on one hand, and the comic slippage of identities in the city on the other. This study understands Jonson, first and foremost, as a comedy writer, linking his work with modern film comedies such as the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and Monty Python. It is a new approach to Jonsonian studies, responding to the current Marxist-Lacanian studies of literature, film and culture made popular by scholars such as Slavoj Žižek, Alenka Zupančič and Mladen Dolar. While the book pays close attention to the historical context of Jonson’s time, it brings him to the twenty-first century by discussing early modern comedies with modern critical theories and film.Key FeaturesReads Ben Jonson in fresh ways from various theoretical perspectives including psychoanalysis, poststructuralism and MarxismShows readers how the dwarf, the androgyne, the eunuch and the parasite are instrumental to the understanding of Volpone and other Jonson’s comedies including Epicoene, The Alchemist and Bartholomew FairProvides readers with a new understanding of Jonson’s comedy, early modern city comedy and the difference between comedy and tragedyCompares Jonson with other early modern plays such as Shakespeare’s King Richard III and Twelfth Night, Middleton’s A Mad World, My Masters and A Chaste Maid in Cheapside and Massinger’s The RenegadoCompares Jonson’s comedies with modern film comedies such as the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and Monty Python

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Acknowledgements -- Chapter 1 Introduction: Jonson and Comedy -- Chapter 2 ‘For pleasing imitation of greater men’s action’: Nano the Anamorphic Ape -- Chapter 3 ‘Think me cold, frozen, and impotent, and so report me?’: Volpone and His ‘Castrone’ Complex -- Chapter 4 ‘The case appears too liquid’: The Two Sides of Androgyno -- Chapter 5 ‘I fear I shall begin to grow in love with my dear self’: The Parasite and His ‘Mirror Stage’ -- Chapter 6 Jonson’s Comedy of Bastardy -- Chapter 7 Conclusion: ‘Fools, they are the only nation’: Rereading the Interlude and Beyond -- Bibliography -- Index