The world upside down: Comedy from Jonson to Fielding

Donaldson, Ian

Literature & Fiction

Clarendon P.

The Rapes of Lucretia: a myth and its transformations

The Rapes of Lucretia: A Myth and Its Transformations

Religion & Spirituality

Oxford University Press

Ben Jonson was the greatest of Shakespeare's contemporaries. His fame rests not only on the numerous plays he had written, but on his achievements over three decades as principal masque-writer to the early Stuart court, where he had worked in creative, if at times stormy, collaboration with Inigo Jones. One of the most accomplished poets of the age, he was--in fact if not in title--the first Poet Laureate in England. Ian Donaldson's new biography draws on freshly discovered writings by and about Ben Jonson, and locates his work within the social and intellectual contexts of his time. Donaldson depicts a life full of drama. Jonson's early satirical play, The Isle of Dogs, landed him in prison, and brought all theatrical activity in London to a temporary--and very nearly permanent--standstill. He was "almost at the gallows" for killing a fellow actor after a quarrel, and converted to Catholicism while awaiting execution. He supped with the Gunpowder conspirators on the eve of their planned coup at Westminster. After satirizing the Scots in Eastward Ho! he was imprisoned again, and throughout his career was repeatedly interrogated about plays and poems thought to contain seditious or slanderous material. Throughout this lively biography, Donaldson provides the fullest picture available of Jonson's personal, political, spiritual, and intellectual interests, and he insightfully discusses all of Jonson's major poetry and drama, plus some newly discovered works. Jonson emerges from this study as a more complex and volatile character than previously depicted, and as a writer whose work strikingly foresees the modern age.

Ben Jonson: A Life

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

The playwright Ben Jonson (1572-1637) was commonly regarded during his lifetime and the century following his death as a writer whose powers were equal, if not superior, to those of Shakespeare. In this new collection of biographical, critical, and historical essays, Ian Donaldson challenges many long-held and recent assumptions about the nature of Jonson's personality and creative achievement, offering fresh readings of his life and art.

Jonson's Magic Houses: Essays in Interpretation

Dramas & Plays

Clarendon Press

Seeing the First Australians

First sight / Ian Donaldson & Tamsin Donaldson -- The first European depictions / Bernard Smith -- Reactions on Cook's voyage / Glyndwr Williams -- Savage sportsmen / James Urry -- The Darwinian perspective / D.J. Mulvaney -- Hearing the first Australians / Tamsin Donaldson -- Projections of melancholy / Margaret Maynard -- Tom Roberts' aboriginal portraits / Helen Topliss -- Thomas Dick's photographic vision / Isabel McBryde -- The popular image / Nicolas Peterson -- Ordering the landscape / Rhys Jones.

History

Unwin Hyman

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Books by Donaldson, Ian