Four Restoration Libertine Plays (A Fond Husband and Friendship in Fashion; The Man of Mode; The Libertine)

These four plays in the Oxford English Drama series capture the range of responses to the fashionable and daring libertine movement in the second half of the seventeenth century. A Fond Husband and Friendship in Fashion are lesser-known comic gems of the Restoration stage; The Man of Mode is Etherege's masterpiece, and The Libertine is Shadwell's experimental and dark version of the Don Juan story. The texts are freshly edited using modern spelling. There is a critical introduction, wide-ranging annotation, and an informative bibliography which together illuminate the plays' cultural context and theatrical potential for reader and performer alike. The introduction surveys the origins and development of libertinism and provides a close reading of the plays. It also considers staging, and looks at the plays not merely as literary texts but also as scripts intended for performance. This edition also includes a wide-ranging annotation and an informative biliography which together illuminate the plays' cultural context and theatrical potential for reader and performer alike. Thomas Shadwell, The Libertine ; George Etherege, The Man of Mode ; Thomas Durfey, A Fond Husband ; Thomas Otway, Friendship in Fashion These four plays in the Oxford English Drama series capture the range of responses to the fashionable and daring libertine movement in the second half of the seventeenth century. A Fond Husband and Friendship in Fashion are lesser-known comic gems of the Restoration stage; The Man of Mode is Etherege's masterpiece, and The Libertine is Shadwell's experimental and dark version of the Don Juan story. The texts are freshly edited using modern spelling. There is a critical introduction, wide-ranging annotation, and an informative bibliography which together illuminate the plays' cultural context and theatrical potential for reader and performer alike. The introduction surveys the origins and development of libertinism and provides a close reading of the plays. It also considers staging, and looks at the plays not merely as literary texts but also as scripts intended for performance. Thomas Shadwell, The Libertine * George Etherege, The Man of Mode * Thomas Durfey, A Fond Husband * Thomas Otway, Friendship in Fashion These four plays in the Oxford English Drama series capture the range of responses to the fashionable and daring libertine movement in the second half of the seventeenth century. A Fond Husband and Friendship in Fashion are lesser-known comic gems of the Restoration stage; The Man of Mode is Etherege's masterpiece, and The Libertine is Shadwell's experimental and dark version of the Don Juan story. The texts are freshly edited using modern spelling. There is a critical introduction, wide-ranging annotation, and an informative bibliography which together illuminate the plays' cultural context and theatrical potential for reader and performer alike. 'The series should shape the canon in a number of significant areas. A splendid and imaginative project.' Professor Anne Barton, Cambridge University "Two aspects of libertinism, the lubricious and the learned, found expression in the sex comedies written during the 1670s and early 1680s, a time when London theatre was unfettered by morality. The four plays in this volume capture the gamut of contemporary reactions to libertinism, from the outraged disapproval of Thomas Shadwell's sprawling, experimental The Libertine (1675), to the cool acquiescence of Sir George Etherege's brilliant comedy, The Man of Mode (1676), the cheerful assent of Thomas Durfey's rollicking farce, A Fond Husband (1677), and the moody forebodings of Thomas Otway's darkly comic tale of marital warfare, Friendship in Fashion (1678)."--Jacket These four plays in the Oxford English Drama series capture the range of responses to the fashionable and daring libertine movement in the second half of the seventeenth century. A Fond Husband and Friendship in Fashion are lesser-known comic gems of the Restoration stage; The Man of Mode is Etherege's masterpiece, and The Libertine is Shadwell's experimental and dark version of the Don Juan story. - ;Thomas Shadwell, The Libertine * George Etherege, The Man of Mode * Thomas Durfey, A Fond Husband * Thomas Otway, Friendship in Fashion. These four plays in the Oxford English Drama series captur The Libertine / Thomas Shadwell -- The Man Of Mode ; Or, Sir Fopling Flutter / George Etherege -- A Fond Husband ; Or, The Plotting Sisters / Thomas Durfey -- Friendship In Fashion / Thomas Otway. Edited With An Introduction And Notes By Deborah Payne Fisk. Includes Bibliographical References.