John Gay, a Profession of FriendshipOxford University Press, 1995 - 563 páginas * First full-length biography of John Gay for over 50 years This major biography is the first full-length life of John Gay (1685-1732) for over fifty years. David Nokes's detailed and extensive research has unearthed several new discoveries, including hitherto unpublished letters, and possible attributions. Presenting Gay as a complex character, tornbetween the hopes of court preferment and the assertion of literary independence, this book is at once a lively and readable biography for the non-specialist, as well as a comprehensive and scholarly study. Perhaps best known for The Beggar's Opera, John Gay is here revealed to be a contradictory figure whose life defies strict generic categories. Often cast as a neglected genius, dependent upon others, Gay in fact left a healthy estate after his death. Depicted both as childlike innocent and rakishladies' man by his friends, the same writer produced Polly, the most successful and subversive theatrical satire of his generation, which was banned from the stage. David Nokes argues that Gay's self-effacing and self-mocking literary persona was largely responsible for perpetuating an image of himself as a genial literary non-entity. Hence Gay's authorship has been frequently questioned and often attributed, at least in part, to his friends in the ScriblerusClub - Pope, Swift, Arbuthnot, and Parnell. John Gay, A Profession of Friendship finally views Gay as a man whose struggles for literary and social recognition led him, paradoxically, to project a seemingly nebulous personality. |
Contenido
Introduction I | 1 |
PARTI Trading Places 16851714 | 9 |
In Paternal Land II | 11 |
Derechos de autor | |
Otras 18 secciones no mostradas
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
Términos y frases comunes
Aaron Hill Achilles Addison Alexander Pope Amesbury Arbuthnot ballad Barnstaple Beggar's Opera Bolingbroke British Apollo Burlington career Cibber comedy comic Corr Countess of Suffolk court courtiers D'Ye Call death declared Drury Lane Duchess Duke Dunciad Earl England Epistle fable favour favourite female Fortescue friends friendship Gay's Handel hath hint honour hope Hours after Marriage Howard Ibid ironic Irving Italian opera Jacobite James Baker John Gay Jonathan King Lady later letter literary London Lord Lord Burlington Macheath Mohocks moral never night Oxford pamphlet parody pastoral patrons Peachum performance play poem poet poetic political Polly Pope and Gay Pope's praise Princess published Pulteney Queen Queensberry role Rural Sports satire scene Scriblerian seems sexual Shepherd's Week social song South Sea Spectator Street suggests theatre theatrical told Swift tone Tory town trade Twickenham verse Walpole Whig Wife of Bath William writing wrote