A comprehensive, scholarly biography of the Elizabethan/Jacobean
dramatist and poet; by Stanford Univ. professor Riggs, who here
also illuminates the elaborate literary theories that underlay the
structures of Jonson's plays - including Volpone, Cynthia's Revels,
and Every Man in His Humour. Riggs traces Jonson's rise from a
bricklayer's apprentice to England's leading literary figure. The
consummate "literary careerist," Jonson's was often nearly derailed
by his hot temper and independent nature. Accused of sedition, he
was imprisoned several times and came close to being hanged; in his
youth, he killed two men and indulged in a number of adulterous
relationships. Riggs shows how Jonson was nevertheless able to
transcend his background and transmute it through his enormous
talent into literary gold. His popular comedies eventually brought
him to the attention of King James I, who hired Jonson to fashion
elaborate court dances and entertainments. As a courtier, Jonson
was a loyal supporter of the new king, who rewarded his "well
beloved servant" with an annual pension. Jonson also broke new
ground when he became the first English playwright to publish his
plays in folio form. After Charles I succeeded James I, the
monarchy fell upon hard financial times and Jonson's pension was
irregularly paid; his career also began to wane swiftly. Jonson
died in near penury in 1637 and was buried in the poet's corner of
Westminster Abbey. In this painstakingly thorough biography, Riggs
describes in detail Jonson's milieu - the rise of London's new
urban classes, the inner workings of the Jacobean Court, the growth
in popularity of the theater, and the web of literary rivalries and
friendships that Jonson wove about himself. Riggs' reliance on a
scholarly armature, however, often weighs down the narrative flow.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Ben Jonson's contemporaries admired him above all other playwrights
and poets of the English Renaissance. He was the "great refiner"
who alchemized the bleakest aspects of everyday life into brilliant
images of folly and deceit. He was also a celebrated reprobate and
an ambitious entrepreneur. David Riggs illuminates every facet of
this extraordinary career, giving us the first major biography of
Jonson in over sixty years. The story of Jonson's life provides a
broad view of the literary procession in early modern England and
the milieu in which Elizabethan drama was produced. Beginning as a
journeyman actor, Jonson was soon a novice playwright; his first
important play was staged in 1598, with Shakespeare in the cast. He
was by turns the self-styled leader of a literary elite, a writer
of court masques, the first dramatist to publish his own Works, a
royal pensioner, and a genteel poet. As Jonson transformed himself
from an artisan into a gentleman, his need to transcend his class
origins led him to murder, to his notorious quarrels with Thomas
Dekker, John Marston, and Inigo Jones, and to his lifelong rivalry
with Shakespeare. Riggs traces the roots of Jonson's aggressiveness
back to the turmoil of his childhood and adolescence. He offers new
and convincing accounts of Jonson's latent hostility toward his
bricklayer stepfather, his reckless marriage to Anne Lewis, and his
conflicted relationships with his children. This vivid portrait
synthesizes six decades of scholarship and new historical evidence.
Sixty halftones beautifully illustrate the story and capture the
spirit of the age. With Riggs' original interpretations of Jonson's
masterpieces and lesser known works, Ben Jonson: A Life will prove
the standard account of this complex man's life and works for many
years to come.
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