William Wycherley and the Comedy of Fear
William Wycherley and the Comedy of Fear

Author: John A. Vance

Publisher: University of Delaware Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780874137088

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"This is a study of the four plays of William Wycherley - long considered one of England's most important playwrights especially of the theatrically rich Restoration period, 1660-1700. The subject of many a study by the period's leading scholars, Wycherley has been perceived as a vigorous satirist, setting out "quite openly to teach his audience" about a multitude of personal and social sins." "This study takes issue with such impressions. It argues that Wycherley was not so much an attacking playwright but rather a thinking one - little concerned with larger social, political, and moral matters but one fascinated instead by the workings and motivations of fallible and insecure men and women - by that which is constant, pervasive and obsessive."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Country Wife
The Country Wife

Author: William Wycherley

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2014-02-13

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 1408179911

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'He's a fool that marries, but he's a greater fool that does not marry a fool.' This bawdy, hilarious, subversive and wickedly satirical drama pokes fun at the humourless, the jealous, and the adulterous alike. It features a country wife, Margery, whose husband believes she is too naïve to cuckold him; and an anti-hero, Horner, who pretends to be impotent in order to have unrestrained access to the women keen on 'the sport'. A number of licentious and hypocritical women request Horner's services – the country wife among them. The Country Wife has provoked powerfully mixed reactions over the years. The seventeenth century libertine king Charles II saw it twice, and is said to have joined the 'dance of the cuckolds' at the end of one performance; the eighteenth century actor-playwright David Garrick declared it 'the most licentious play in the English language'; the Victorian Macaulay compared it to a skunk, because it was 'too filthy to handle and too noisome even to approach'. Twentieth century productions heralded it a Restoration masterpiece. Sexually frank, and as ready to criticise marriage as infidelity, the virtuosity, linguistic energy, brilliant wit, naughtiness and complexity of this ribald play have made it a staple of the modern stage. This student edition contains a lengthy, entirely new introduction, by leading scholar, Tiffany Stern, with a background on the author, structure, characters, genre, themes, original staging and performance history, as well as an updated bibliography and a fully annotated version of the playtext.

William Wycherley [Four Plays]
William Wycherley [Four Plays]

Author: William Wycherley

Publisher: DigiCat

Published: 2022-08-10

Total Pages: 470

ISBN-13:

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The four plays of William Wycherley are his only works of literature. Yet they earned him fame. The four plays are "Love in a Wood or St. James's Park," published in 1672, "The Gentleman Dancing Master," published in 1673, "The Country Wife, published in 1675," and "The Plain Dealer," published in 1677.

Delphi Complete Plays of William Wycherley (Illustrated)
Delphi Complete Plays of William Wycherley (Illustrated)

Author: William Wycherley

Publisher: Delphi Classics

Published: 2020-11-11

Total Pages: 986

ISBN-13: 1913487393

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The late seventeenth century playwright William Wycherley produced satirical and comic masterpieces, winning the admiration of his fellow writers, including John Dryden and William Congreve, who described him as “appointed to lash this crying age.” Following the restoration of Charles II, dramatists experienced new freedom in an age that broke from the strict morality of puritan rule and in which elegance and wit became the most prized of virtues. Irreverent, cynical and licentious, Wycherley’s works illuminate the many vices of these colourful times, satirising the widening disparity between appearances and reality. This comprehensive eBook presents Wycherley’s complete plays, with numerous illustrations, rare texts appearing in digital print for the first time, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Wycherley’s life and works * Concise introductions to the plays * All the plays, with individual contents tables * Play texts based on W. C. Ward's 1893 unexpurgated edition * Includes the original footnotes - ideal for students * Features rare poems appearing here for the first time in digital publishing * Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * Excellent formatting of the texts * Features two biographies – discover Wycherley’s intriguing life * Ordering of texts into chronological order and genres Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles CONTENTS: The Plays Love in a Wood (1671) The Gentleman Dancing Master (1673) The Country Wife (1675) The Plain Dealer (1676) The Poetry Hero and Leander (1669) Epistle to the King (1682) Epistle to the Duke (1682) The Dedication to the Greatest Friend of the Muses, Vanity (1704) The Author to the Bookseller (1704) Upon the Discretion of Folly (1704) Upon the Most Useful Knowledge, Craft or Cunning (1704) A Song against Delays in Love (1704) In Vindication of Simplicity and Good Nature (1704) The Biographies William Wycherley (1893) by Thomas Babington Macaulay William Wycherley (1900) by George Atherton Aitken Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles or to purchase this eBook as a Parts Edition of individual eBooks

Four Great Restoration Comedies
Four Great Restoration Comedies

Author: William Wycherley

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2012-04-03

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0486153606

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Comedy classics that defined a new era in drama: The Country Wife by William Wycherley; The Man of Mode by Sir George Etheredge; The Rover by Aphra Behn; and The Relapse by Sir John Vanbrugh.

The Country Wife and Other Plays
The Country Wife and Other Plays

Author: William Wycherley

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2008-11-13

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 0191611425

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Wycherley's four comedies are admired for their satirical wit, farcical humour, vivid characterization, and social criticism.Love in a Wood, a lively comedy of intrigue, established him as a brilliant new dramatist.The Gentleman Dancing-Master, in contrast, disappointed contemporary audiences, but the central relationship between Hippolyta and Gerrard features an original and sympathetic study of a young woman's attitudes and feelings. The Country Wife is a sharp but also highly amusing attack on social and sexual hypocrisy. The Plain Dealer, a powerful dramatic satire loosely based on Moliere's Le Misanthrope, continues and enlarges Wycherley's assault on greed and corruption. Under the General Editorship of Michael Cordner of the University of York, the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, there is a scholarly introduction, a note on staging, and detailed annotation. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Money and Metafiction in William Wycherley's "The Plain Dealer" and Moliere's "Le Misanthrope"
Money and Metafiction in William Wycherley's

Author: Mark Schauer

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2013-07-12

Total Pages: 10

ISBN-13: 3656460019

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Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: A, Northern Arizona University, course: English Restoration Literature, language: English, abstract: That William Wycherley’s 1676 play The Plain Dealer is based upon his French contemporary Moliere’s Le Misanthrope from a decade earlier is a commonly accepted tenet among critics: Both Alceste in Le Misanthrope and Manly in The Plain Dealer display misanthropic tendencies. Both insist, however, that their misanthropy is not directed at all people, just those who dissemble and flatter in a hypocritical way. Both are initially in love with women who possess acid tongues in private, yet are guilty of exactly the same public flattery the men despise. Yet The Plain Dealer greatly exceeded its source material in popularity, at least during its initial stage run, and there is very little critical consideration as to why Wycherley’s play, which is generally considered the coarser of the two, outperformed its better. The relative success of Wycherley’s play can likely be attributed to the business concerns faced by Moliere that Wycherley was exempt from, the unvarnished, vulgar satire of The Plain Dealer that was informed by previous crowd-pleasing English plays, and The Plain Dealer’s much larger dollop of misogyny