English , · German 97, · Russian 62, · Spanish 45, · Chinese 24, · Japanese 24, · French cover image of Helen with the High Hand ( 2nd ed.) Delphi Parts Edition (Arnold Bennett) (Series) cover image of Helena und der heißblütige Venezianer · Helena und der heißblütige Romana ( Series).
Table of contents
- Volpone; or, The Fox (Webster's German Thesaurus Edition)
- Philharmonie Luxembourg Saisonbroschüre 2014/15
- Don't be the product, buy the product!
- Moby Multiple Language Lists of Common Words by Grady Ward - Free Ebook
From allusions in Dekker's play, "Satiromastix," it appears that Jonson, like Shakespeare, began life as an actor, and that he "ambled in a leather pitch by a play-wagon" taking at one time the part of Hieronimo in Kyd's famous play, "The Spanish Tragedy. Francis Meres-well known for his "Comparative Discourse of our English Poets with the Greek, Latin, and Italian Poets," printed in , and for his mention therein of a dozen plays of Shakespeare by title--accords to Ben Jonson a place as one of "our best in tragedy," a matter of some surprise, as no known tragedy of Jonson from so early a date has come down to us.
That Jonson was at work on tragedy, however, is proved by the entries in Henslowe of at least three tragedies, now lost, in which he had a hand. Returning to the autumn of , an event now happened to sever for a time Jonson's relations with Henslowe. In a letter to Alleyn, dated September 26 of that year, Henslowe writes: It is fair to Jonson to remark however, that his adversary appears to have been a notorious fire-eater who had shortly before killed one Feeke in a similar squabble. Duelling was a frequent occurrence of German allusions: Vorkommen, Auftreten, Begebenheit, Ereignis, Vorkommnis.
Ben Jonson 5 the time among gentlemen and the nobility; it was an impudent breach of the peace on the part of a player. This duel is the one which Jonson described years after to Drummond, and for it Jonson was duly arraigned at Old Bailey, tried, and convicted. He was sent to prison and such goods and chattels as he had "were forfeited. The circumstance that the poet could read and write saved him; and he received only a brand of the letter "T," for Tyburn, on his left thumb.
While in jail Jonson became a Roman Catholic; but he returned to the faith of the Church of England a dozen years later. A tradition of long standing, though not susceptible of proof in a court of law, narrates that Jonson had submitted the manuscript of "Every Man in His Humour" to the Chamberlain's men and had received from the company a refusal; that Shakespeare called him back, read the play himself, and at once accepted it. Whether this story is true or not, certain it is that "Every Man in His Humour" was accepted by Shakespeare's company and acted for the first time in , with Shakespeare taking a part.
The evidence of this is contained in the list of actors prefixed to the comedy in the folio of Jonson's works, But it is a mistake to infer, because Shakespeare's name stands first in the list of actors and the elder Kno'well first in the dramatis personae, that Shakespeare took that particular part. The order of a list of Elizabethan players was generally that of their importance or priority as shareholders in the company and seldom if ever corresponded to the list of characters. This could have been by no means Jonson's earliest comedy, and we have just learned that he was already reputed one of "our best in tragedy.
Tat, Urkunde, Handlung, Akt, Werk. The former play may be described as a comedy modelled on the Latin plays of Plautus. It combines, in fact, situations derived from the "Captivi" and the "Aulularia" of that dramatist. But the pretty story of the beggar-maiden, Rachel, and her suitors, Jonson found, not among the classics, but in the ideals of romantic love which Shakespeare had already popularised on the stage.
Jonson never again produced so fresh and lovable a feminine personage as Rachel, although in other respects "The Case is Altered" is not a conspicuous play, and, save for the satirising of Antony Munday in the person of Antonio Balladino and Gabriel Harvey as well, is perhaps the least characteristic of the comedies of Jonson. As to plot, it tells little more than how an intercepted letter enabled a father to follow his supposedly studious son to London, and there observe his life with the gallants of the time.
The real quality of this comedy is in its personages and in the theory upon which they are conceived. Ben Jonson had theories about poetry and the drama, and he was neither chary in talking of them nor in experimenting with them in his plays. This makes Jonson, like Dryden in his time, and Wordsworth much later, an author to reckon with; particularly when we remember that many of Jonson's notions came for a time definitely to prevail and to modify the whole trend of English poetry.
First of all Jonson was a classicist, that is, he believed in restraint and precedent in art in opposition to the prevalent ungoverned and irresponsible Renaissance spirit. Jonson believed that there was a professional way of doing things which might be reached by a study of the best examples, and he found these examples for the most part among the ancients. To confine our attention to the drama, Jonson objected to the amateurishness and haphazard nature of many contemporary plays, and set himself to do something different; and the first and most striking thing that he evolved was his conception and practice of the comedy of humours.
Ben Jonson 7 As Jonson has been much misrepresented in this matter, let us quote his own words as to "humour. O, it is more than most ridiculous. Downright, as his name indicates, is "a plain squire"; Bobadill's humour is that of the braggart who is incidentally, and with delightfully comic effect, a coward; Brainworm's humour is the finding out of things to the end of fooling everybody: Jonson was neither in this, his first great comedy nor in any other play that he wrote , a supine classicist, urging that English drama return to a slavish adherence to classical conditions.
He says as to the laws of the old comedy meaning by "laws," such matters as the unities of time and place and the use of chorus: Even the word "humour" seems to have been employed in the Jonsonian sense by Chapman before Jonson's use of it. Indeed, the comedy of humours itself is only a heightened variety of the comedy German according: Kette, verzerren, Verwerfung, sichverziehen. None the less, Jonson's comedy merited its immediate success and marked out a definite course in which comedy long continued to run.
It was not Jonson's fault that many of his successors did precisely the thing that he had reprobated, that is, degrade "the humour: There was an anonymous play called "Every Woman in Her Humour. Despite his many real virtues, if there is one feature more than any other that distinguishes Jonson, it is his arrogance; and to this may be added his selfrighteousness, especially under criticism or satire.
This play as a fabric of plot is a very slight affair; but as a satirical picture of the manners of the time, proceeding by means of vivid caricature, couched in witty and brilliant dialogue and sustained by that righteous indignation which must lie at the heart of all true satire--as a realisation, in short, of the classical ideal of comedy--there had been nothing like Jonson's comedy since the days of Aristophanes. Karikatur, Karikieren, Spottbild, Zerrbild. The method of personal attack by actual caricature of a person on the stage is almost as old as the drama.
Aristophanes so lampooned Euripides in "The Acharnians" and Socrates in "The Clouds," to mention no other examples; and in English drama this kind of thing is alluded to again and again. What Jonson really did, was to raise the dramatic lampoon to an art, and make out of a casual burlesque and bit of mimicry a dramatic satire of literary pretensions and permanency. With the arrogant attitude mentioned above and his uncommon eloquence in scorn, vituperation, and invective, it is no wonder that Jonson soon involved himself in literary and even personal quarrels with his fellow-authors.
The circumstances of the origin of this 'poetomachia' are far from clear, and those who have written on the topic, except of late, have not helped to make them clearer. The origin of the "war" has been referred to satirical references, apparently to Jonson, contained in "The Scourge of Villainy," a satire in regular form after the manner of the ancients by John Marston, a fellow playwright, subsequent friend and collaborator of Jonson's.
On the other hand, epigrams of Jonson have been discovered 49, 68, and variously charging "playwright" reasonably identified with Marston with scurrility, cowardice, and plagiarism; though the dates of the epigrams cannot be ascertained with certainty. Jonson's own statement of the matter to Drummond runs: Penniman in "Belles Lettres Series" shortly to appear.
See also his earlier work, "The War of the Theatres," , and the excellent contributions to the subject by H. Hart in "Notes and Queries," and in his edition of Jonson, Here at least we are on certain ground; and the principals of the quarrel are known. As to the personages actually ridiculed in "Every Man Out of His Humour," Carlo Buffone was formerly thought certainly to be Marston, as he was described as "a public, scurrilous, and profane jester," and elsewhere as the grand scourge or second untruss [that is, satirist], of the time" Joseph Hall being by his own boast the first, and Marston's work being entitled "The Scourge of Villainy".
Apparently we must now prefer for Carlo a notorious character named Charles Chester, of whom gossipy and inaccurate Aubrey relates that he was "a bold impertinent fellow So one time at a tavern Sir Walter Raleigh beats him and seals up his mouth that is his upper and nether beard with hard wax. From him Ben Jonson takes his Carlo Buffone ['i. We have digressed into detail in this particular case to exemplify the difficulties of criticism in its attempts to identify the allusions in these forgotten quarrels. We are on sounder ground of fact in recording other manifestations of Jonson's enmity.
In "The Case is Altered" there is clear ridicule in the character Antonio Balladino of Anthony Munday, pageant-poet of the city, translator of romances and playwright as well.
Volpone; or, The Fox (Webster's German Thesaurus Edition)
In "Every Man in His Humour" there is certainly a caricature of Samuel Daniel, accepted poet of the court, sonneteer, and companion of men of fashion. These men held recognised positions to which Jonson felt his talents better entitled him; they were hence to him his natural enemies. It seems almost certain that he pursued both in the personages of his satire through "Every Man Out of His Humour," and "Cynthia's Revels," Daniel under the characters Fastidious Brisk and Hedon, Munday as Puntarvolo and Amorphus; but in these last we venture on quagmire once more.
Jonson's literary rivalry of Daniel is traceable again and again, in the entertainments that welcomed King James on his way to London, in the masques at court, and in the pastoral drama. As to Jonson's personal ambitions with respect to these two men, it is notable that he became, not pageant-poet, but chronologer to the City of German beats: Ben Jonson 11 London; and that, on the accession of the new king, he came soon to triumph over Daniel as the accepted entertainer of royalty.
It adds to our wonder that this difficult drama should have been acted by the Children of Queen Elizabeth's Chapel, among them Nathaniel Field with whom Jonson read Horace and Martial, and whom he taught later how to make plays. Another of these precocious little actors was Salathiel Pavy, who died before he was thirteen, already famed for taking the parts of old men. Him Jonson immortalised in one of the sweetest of his epitaphs.
An interesting sidelight is this on the character of this redoubtable and rugged satirist, that he should thus have befriended and tenderly remembered these little theatrical waifs, some of whom as we know had been literally kidnapped to be pressed into the service of the theatre and whipped to the conning of their difficult parts. To the caricature of Daniel and Munday in "Cynthia's Revels" must be added Anaides impudence , here assuredly Marston, and Asotus the prodigal , interpreted as Lodge or, more perilously, Raleigh.
Crites, like Asper-Macilente in "Every Man Out of His Humour," is Jonson's self-complaisant portrait of himself, the just, wholly admirable, and judicious scholar, holding his head high above the pack of the yelping curs of envy and detraction, but careless of their puny attacks on his perfections with only too mindful a neglect. The third and last of the "comical satires" is "Poetaster," acted, once more, by the Children of the Chapel in , and Jonson's only avowed contribution to the fray.
According to the author's own account, this play was written in fifteen weeks on a report that his enemies had entrusted to Dekker the preparation of "Satiromastix, the Untrussing of the Humorous Poet," a dramatic attack upon himself. In this attempt to forestall his enemies Jonson succeeded, and German abstractions: While hardly more closely knit in structure than its earlier companion pieces, "Poetaster" is planned to lead up to the ludicrous final scene in which, after a device borrowed from the "Lexiphanes" of Lucian, the offending poetaster, Marston-Crispinus, is made to throw up the difficult words with which he had overburdened his stomach as well as overlarded his vocabulary.
In the end Crispinus with his fellow, DekkerDemetrius, is bound over to keep the peace and never thenceforward "malign, traduce, or detract the person or writings of Quintus Horatius Flaccus [Jonson] or any other eminent man transcending you in merit. This he hurriedly adapted to include the satirical characters suggested by "Poetaster," and fashioned to convey the satire of his reply. The absurdity of placing Horace in the court of a Norman king is the result.
But Dekker's play is not without its palpable hits at the arrogance, the literary pride, and self-righteousness of Jonson-Horace, whose "ningle" or pal, the absurd Asinius Bubo, has recently been shown to figure forth, in all likelihood, Jonson's friend, the poet Drayton. Slight and hastily adapted as is "Satiromastix," especially in a comparison with the better wrought and more significant satire of "Poetaster," the town awarded the palm to Dekker, not to Jonson; and Jonson gave over in consequence his practice of "comical satire.
It may be suspected that much of German absurdity: The town was agog with the strife, and on no less an authority than Shakespeare "Hamlet," ii. Among them the most important is a college play, entitled "The Return from Parnassus," dating In it a much-quoted passage makes Burbage, as a character, declare: O that Ben Jonson is a pestilent fellow; he brought up Horace, giving the poets a pill, but our fellow Shakespeare hath given him a purge that made him bewray his credit.
And what could have been the nature of this "purge"? Among several suggestions, "Troilus and Cressida" has been thought by some to be the play in which Shakespeare thus "put down" his friend, Jonson. A wiser interpretation finds the "purge" in "Satiromastix," which, though not written by Shakespeare, was staged by his company, and therefore with his approval and under his direction as one of the leaders of that company. The last years of the reign of Elizabeth thus saw Jonson recognised as a dramatist second only to Shakespeare, and not second even to him as a dramatic satirist. But Jonson now turned his talents to new fields.
Plays on subjects derived from classical story and myth had held the stage from the beginning of the drama, so that Shakespeare was making no new departure when he wrote his "Julius Caesar" about Therefore when Jonson staged "Sejanus," three years later and with Shakespeare's company once more, he was only following in the elder dramatist's footsteps. But Jonson's idea of a play on classical history, on the one hand, and Shakespeare's and the elder popular dramatists, on the other, were very different.
Heywood some years before had put five straggling plays on the stage in quick succession, all derived from stories in Ovid and dramatised with little taste or discrimination. Shakespeare had a finer conception of form, but even he was contented to take all his ancient history from North's translation German agog: Jonson was a scholar and a classical antiquarian. He reprobated this slipshod amateurishness, and wrote his "Sejanus" like a scholar, reading Tacitus, Suetonius, and other authorities, to be certain of his facts, his setting, and his atmosphere, and somewhat pedantically noting his authorities in the margin when he came to print.
Our drama presents no truer nor more painstaking representation of ancient Roman life than may be found in Jonson's "Sejanus" and "Catiline his Conspiracy," which followed in A passage in the address of the former play to the reader, in which Jonson refers to a collaboration in an earlier version, has led to the surmise that Shakespeare may have been that "worthier pen. Between Jonson and Chapman there was the kinship of similar scholarly ideals. The two continued friends throughout life. But this was not due entirely to the merits of the play. In its earliest version a passage which an irritable courtier conceived to be derogatory to his nation, the Scots, sent both Chapman and Jonson to jail; but the matter was soon patched up, for by this time Jonson had influence at court.
With the accession of King James, Jonson began his long and successful career as a writer of masques. He wrote more masques than all his competitors together, and they are of an extraordinary variety and poetic excellence. Jonson did not invent the masque; for such premeditated devices to set and frame, so to speak, a court ball had been known and practised in varying degrees of elaboration long before his time. But Jonson gave dramatic value to the masque, especially in his invention of the antimasque, a comedy or farcical element of German antiquarian: He enhanced, as well, the beauty and dignity of those portions of the masque in which noble lords and ladies took their parts to create, by their gorgeous costumes and artistic grouping and evolutions, a sumptuous show.
Philharmonie Luxembourg Saisonbroschüre 2014/15
On the mechanical and scenic side Jonson had an inventive and ingenious partner in Inigo Jones, the royal architect, who more than any one man raised the standard of stage representation in the England of his day. Jonson continued active in the service of the court in the writing of masques and other entertainments far into the reign of King Charles; but, towards the end, a quarrel with Jones embittered his life, and the two testy old men appear to have become not only a constant irritation to each other, but intolerable bores at court.
In "Hymenaei," "The Masque of Queens," "Love Freed from Ignorance," "Lovers made Men," "Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue," and many more will be found Jonson's aptitude, his taste, his poetry and inventiveness in these by-forms of the drama; while in "The Masque of Christmas," and "The Gipsies Metamorphosed" especially, is discoverable that power of broad comedy which, at court as well as in the city, was not the least element of Jonson's contemporary popularity.
But Jonson had by no means given up the popular stage when he turned to the amusement of King James.
These comedies, with "Bartholomew Fair," , represent Jonson at his height, and for constructive cleverness, character successfully conceived in the manner of caricature, wit and brilliancy of dialogue, they stand alone in English drama. Its subject is a struggle of wit applied to chicanery; for among its dramatis personae, from the villainous Fox himself, his rascally servant Mosca, Voltore the vulture , Corbaccio and Corvino the big and the little raven , to Sir Politic Would-be and the rest, there is scarcely a virtuous character in the play.
Question has been raised as to whether a story so forbidding can be considered a comedy, for, although the plot ends in the discomfiture and imprisonment of the most vicious, it involves no mortal catastrophe. But Jonson was on sound historical German aptitude: The whole comedy hinges on a huge joke, played by a heartless nephew on his misanthropic uncle, who is induced to take to himself a wife, young, fair, and warranted silent, but who, in the end, turns out neither silent nor a woman at all. In "The Alchemist," again, we have the utmost cleverness in construction, the whole fabric building climax on climax, witty, ingenious, and so plausibly presented that we forget its departures from the possibilities of life.
In "The Alchemist" Jonson represented, none the less to the life, certain sharpers of the metropolis, revelling in their shrewdness and rascality and in the variety of the stupidity and wickedness of their victims. We may object to the fact that the only person in the play possessed of a scruple of honesty is discomfited, and that the greatest scoundrel of all is approved in the end and rewarded. The comedy is so admirably written and contrived, the personages stand out with such lifelike distinctness in their several kinds, and the whole is animated with such verve and resourcefulness that "The Alchemist" is a new marvel every time it is read.
Lastly of this group comes the tremendous comedy, "Bartholomew Fair," less clear cut, less definite, and less structurally worthy of praise than its three predecessors, but full of the keenest and cleverest of satire and inventive to a degree beyond any English comedy save some other of Jonson's own. It is in "Bartholomew Fair" that we are presented to the immortal caricature of the Puritan, Zeal-in-the-Land Busy, and the Littlewits that group about him, and it is in this extraordinary comedy that the humour of Jonson, always open to this danger, loosens into the Rabelaisian mode that so delighted King James in "The Gipsies Metamorphosed.
It was the failure of this play that caused Jonson to give over writing for the public stage for a period of nearly ten years. Schwung, Verve, Begeisterung, Elan. Whether because of the success of "Eastward Hoe" or for other reasons, the other three comedies declare in the words of the prologue to "The Alchemist": A happy comparison has been suggested between Ben Jonson and Charles Dickens. Both were men of the people, lowly born and hardly bred. Each knew the London of his time as few men knew it; and each represented it intimately and in elaborate detail.
Both men were at heart moralists, seeking the truth by the exaggerated methods of humour and caricature; perverse, even wrong-headed at times, but possessed of a true pathos and largeness of heart, and when all has been said--though the Elizabethan ran to satire, the Victorian to sentimentality--leaving the world better for the art that they practised in it.
In , the year of the death of Shakespeare, Jonson collected his plays, his poetry, and his masques for publication in a collective edition. This was an unusual thing at the time and had been attempted by no dramatist before Jonson. This volume published, in a carefully revised text, all the plays thus far mentioned, excepting "The Case is Altered," which Jonson did not acknowledge, "Bartholomew Fair," and "The Devil is an Ass," which was written too late. It included likewise a book of some hundred and thirty odd "Epigrams," in which form of brief and pungent writing Jonson was an acknowledged master; "The Forest," a smaller collection of lyric and occasional verse and some ten "Masques" and "Entertainments.
This, with his fees and returns from several noblemen, and the small earnings of his plays must have formed the bulk of his income. The poet appears to have done certain literary hack-work for others, as, for example, parts of the Punic Wars contributed to Raleigh's "History of the World. In Jonson was granted the reversion of the office of Master of the Revels, a post for which he was peculiarly fitted; but he did not live to enjoy its perquisites.
Jonson was honoured with degrees by both universities, though when and under what circumstances is not known. It has been said that he narrowly escaped the honour of knighthood, which the satirists of the day averred King James was wont to lavish with an indiscriminate hand. Worse men were made knights in his day than worthy Ben Jonson. But he "prosecuted" what he calls "his wonted studies" with such assiduity that he became in reality, as by report, one of the most learned men of his time.
Jonson's theory of authorship involved a wide acquaintance with books and "an ability," as he put it, "to convert the substance or riches of another poet to his own use. Though a poor man, Jonson was an indefatigable collector of books. He told Drummond that "the Earl of Pembroke sent him 20 pounds every first day of the new year to buy new books. With respect to Jonson's use of his material, Dryden said memorably of him: But he has done his robberies so openly that one sees he fears not to be taxed by any law. He invades authors like a monarch, and German acquainted: Autorschaft, Verfasserschaft, Urheberschaft, Schriftstellerei.
Ben Jonson 19 what would be theft in other poets is only victory in him. In "Catiline," he not only uses Sallust's account of the conspiracy, but he models some of the speeches of Cicero on the Roman orator's actual words. In "Poetaster," he lifts a whole satire out of Horace and dramatises it effectively for his purposes. The sophist Libanius suggests the situation of "The Silent Woman"; a Latin comedy of Giordano Bruno, "Il Candelaio," the relation of the dupes and the sharpers in "The Alchemist," the "Mostellaria" of Plautus, its admirable opening scene.
But Jonson commonly bettered his sources, and putting the stamp of his sovereignty on whatever bullion he borrowed made it thenceforward to all time current and his own. His theory demanded design and the perfection of literary finish. He was furthest from the rhapsodist and the careless singer of an idle day; and he believed that Apollo could only be worthily served in singing robes and laurel crowned.
And yet many of Jonson's lyrics will live as long as the language. Who does not know "Queen and huntress, chaste and fair. Beautiful in form, deft and graceful in expression, with not a word too much or one that bears not its part in the total effect, there is yet about the lyrics of Jonson a certain stiffness and formality, a suspicion that they were not quite spontaneous and unbidden, but that they were carved, so to speak, with disproportionate labour by a potent man of letters whose habitual thought is on greater things.
It is for these reasons that Jonson is even better in the epigram and in occasional verse where rhetorical finish and pointed wit less interfere with the spontaneity and emotion which we usually associate with lyrical poetry. There are no such epitaphs as Ben Jonson's, witness the charming ones on his own children, on Salathiel Pavy, the childactor, and many more; and this even though the rigid law of mine and thine must now restore to William Browne of Tavistock the famous lines beginning: There was no man in England of his rank so well known and universally beloved as Ben Jonson.
The list of his friends, of those to whom he had written verses, and those who had written verses to him, includes the name of every man of prominence in the England of King James. And the tone of many of these productions discloses an affectionate familiarity that speaks for the amiable personality and sound worth of the laureate. In , growing unwieldy through inactivity, Jonson hit upon the heroic remedy of a journey afoot to Scotland. On his way thither and back he was hospitably received at the houses of many friends and by those to whom his friends had recommended him.
When he arrived in Edinburgh, the burgesses met to grant him the freedom of the city, and Drummond, foremost of Scottish poets, was proud to entertain him for weeks as his guest at Hawthornden. Some of the noblest of Jonson's poems were inspired by friendship. Such is the fine "Ode to the memory of Sir Lucius Cary and Sir Henry Moryson," and that admirable piece of critical insight and filial affection, prefixed to the first Shakespeare folio, "To the memory of my beloved master, William Shakespeare, and what he hath left us," to mention only these.
Nor can the earlier "Epode," beginning "Not to know vice at all," be matched in stately gravity and gnomic wisdom in its own wise and stately age. But if Jonson had deserted the stage after the publication of his folio and up to the end of the reign of King James, he was far from inactive; for year after year his inexhaustible inventiveness continued to contribute to the masquing and entertainment at court. In "The Golden Age Restored," Pallas turns the Iron Age with its attendant evils into statues which sink out of sight; in "Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue," Atlas figures represented as an old man, his shoulders covered with snow, and Comus, "the god of cheer or the belly," is one of the characters, a circumstance which an imaginative boy of ten, named John Milton, was not to forget.
These, too, and the earlier years of Charles were the days of the Apollo Room of the Devil Tavern where Jonson presided, the German affectionate: Ben Jonson 21 absolute monarch of English literary Bohemia. We hear of a room blazoned about with Jonson's own judicious "Leges Convivales" in letters of gold, of a company made up of the choicest spirits of the time, devotedly attached to their veteran dictator, his reminiscences, opinions, affections, and enmities.
And we hear, too, of valorous potations; but in the words of Herrick addressed to his master, Jonson, at the Devil Tavern, as at the Dog, the Triple Tun, and at the Mermaid, "We such clusters had As made us nobly wild, not mad, And yet each verse of thine Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine. None of these plays met with any marked success, although the scathing generalisation of Dryden that designated them "Jonson's dotages" is unfair to their genuine merits.
Thus the idea of an office for the gathering, proper dressing, and promulgation of news wild flight of the fancy in its time was an excellent subject for satire on the existing absurdities among newsmongers; although as much can hardly be said for "The Magnetic Lady," who, in her bounty, draws to her personages of differing humours to reconcile them in the end according to the alternative title, or "Humours Reconciled.
And now disease claimed Jonson, and he was bedridden for months.
- Moby Multiple Language Lists of Common Words by Grady Ward?
- Calaméo - Philharmonie Luxembourg Saisonbroschüre /15!
- La Bible des Enfants - Bande dessinée Paraboles et miracles (French Edition).
- Ghost Dance (The Infernal Game Book 2).
He had succeeded Middleton in as Chronologer to the City of London, but lost the post for not fulfilling its duties. King Charles befriended him, and even commissioned him to write still for the entertainment of the court; and he was not without the sustaining hand of noble patrons and devoted friends among the younger poets who were proud to be "sealed of the tribe of Ben. It included all the plays mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs, excepting "The Case is Altered;" the masques, some fifteen, that date between and ; another collection of lyrics and occasional poetry called "Underwoods, including some further entertainments; a translation of "Horace's Art of Poetry" also published in a vicesimo quarto in , and certain fragments and ingatherings which the poet would hardly have included himself.
These last comprise the fragment less than seventy lines of a tragedy called "Mortimer his Fall," and three acts of a pastoral drama of much beauty and poetic spirit, "The Sad Shepherd. Many passages of Jonson's "Discoveries" are literal translations from the authors he chanced to be reading, with the reference, noted or not, as the accident of the moment prescribed. At times he follows the line of Macchiavelli's argument as to the nature and conduct of princes; at others he clarifies his own conception of poetry and poets by recourse to Aristotle.
He finds a choice paragraph on eloquence in Seneca the elder and applies it to his own recollection of Bacon's power as an orator; and another on facile and ready genius, and translates it, adapting it to his recollection of his fellow-playwright, Shakespeare. To call such passages--which Jonson never intended for publication-- plagiarism, is to obscure the significance of words. To disparage his memory by citing them is a preposterous use of scholarship.
Jonson's prose, both in his dramas, in the descriptive comments of his masques, and in the "Discoveries," is characterised by clarity and vigorous directness, nor is it wanting in a fine sense of form or in the subtler graces of diction.
Don't be the product, buy the product!
Ben Jonson 23 When Jonson died there was a project for a handsome monument to his memory. But the Civil War was at hand, and the project failed. A memorial, not insufficient, was carved on the stone covering his grave in one of the aisles of Westminster Abbey: Epigrams, The Forrest, Underwoods, published in fols. Execration against Vulcan, and Epigrams, ; G. Other minor poems first appeared in Gifford's edition of Works. Timber, or Discoveries made upon Men and Matter, fol. Masques and Entertainments were published in the early folios. Nicholson Mermaid Series , with Introduction by C.
Wasserstoff, h, Hydrogenium, Std. Bennett Carlton Classics , ; Masques and Entertainments, ed. See Memoirs affixed to Works; J. Never, most equal Sisters, had any man a wit so presently excellent, as that it could raise itself; but there must come both matter, occasion, commenders, and favourers to it. If this be true, and that the fortune of all writers doth daily prove it, it behoves the careful to provide well towards these accidents; and, German accidents: Anlass, Gelegenheit, Veranlassung, Ereignis, Mal.
Hence is it, that I now render myself grateful, and am studious to justify the bounty of your act; to which, though your mere authority were satisfying, yet it being an age wherein poetry and the professors of it hear so ill on all sides, there will a reason be looked for in the subject. It is certain, nor can it with any forehead be opposed, that the too much license of poetasters in this time, hath much deformed their mistress; that, every day, their manifold and manifest ignorance doth stick unnatural reproaches upon her: For, if men will impartially, and not asquint, look toward the offices and function of a poet, they will easily conclude to themselves the impossibility of any man's being the good poet, without first being a good man.
He that is said to be able to inform young men to all good disciplines, inflame grown men to all great virtues, keep old men in their best and supreme state, or, as they decline to childhood, recover them to their first strength; that comes forth the interpreter and arbiter of nature, a teacher of things divine no less than human, a master in manners; and can alone, or with a few, effect the business of mankind: But it will here be hastily answered, that the writers of these days are other things; that not only their manners, but their natures, are inverted, and nothing remaining with them of the dignity of poet, but the abused name, which every scribe usurps; that now, especially in dramatic, or, as they term it, stage-poetry, nothing but ribaldry, profanation, blasphemy, all license of offence to God and man is practised.
I dare not deny a great part of this, and am sorry I dare not, because in some men's abortive features and would they had never boasted the light it is over-true; but that all are embarked in this bold adventure for hell, is a most uncharitable thought, and, uttered, a more malicious slander. For my particular, I can, and from a most clear conscience, affirm, that I have ever trembled to think toward the least profaneness; have loathed the use of such foul and unwashed bawdry, as is now made the food of the scene: Whether I have not in all these preserved their dignity, as mine own person, safe?
My works are read, allowed, I speak of those that are intirely mine, look into them, what broad reproofs have I used? But it is not rumour can make men guilty, much less entitle me to other men's crimes. I know, that nothing can be so innocently writ or carried, but may be made obnoxious to construction; marry, whilst I bear mine innocence about me, I fear it not. Application is now grown a trade with many; and there are that profess to have a key for the decyphering of every thing: As for those that will by faults which charity hath raked up, or common honesty concealed make themselves a name with the multitude, or, to draw their rude and beastly claps, care not whose living faces they intrench with their petulant styles, may they do it without a rival, for me!
I choose rather to live graved in obscurity, than share with them in so preposterous a fame. Nor can I blame the wishes of those severe and wise patriots, who providing the hurts these licentious spirits may do in a state, desire rather to see fools and devils, and those antique relics of barbarism retrieved, with all other ridiculous and exploded follies, than behold the wounds of private men, of princes and nations: The increase of which lust in liberty, together with the present trade of the German barbarism: Torheiten, Dummheiten, Narreteien, Narrheiten.
I cannot but be serious in a cause of this nature, wherein my fame, and the reputation of divers honest and learned are the question; when a name so full of authority, antiquity, and all great mark, is, through their insolence, become the lowest scorn of the age; and those men subject to the petulancy of every vernaculous orator, that were wont to be the care of kings and happiest monarchs.
This it is that hath not only rapt me to present indignation, but made me studious heretofore, and by all my actions, to stand off from them; which may most appear in this my latest work, which you, most learned Arbitresses, have seen, judged, and to my crown, approved; wherein I have laboured for their instruction and amendment, to reduce not only the ancient forms, but manners of the scene, the easiness, the propriety, the innocence, and last, the doctrine, which is the principal end of poesie, to inform men in the best reason of living.
And though my catastrophe may, in the strict rigour of comic law, meet with censure, as turning back to my promise; I desire the learned and charitable critic, to have so much faith in me, to think it was done of industry: But my special aim being to put the snaffle in their mouths, that cry out, We never punish vice in our interludes, etc.
For the present, most reverenced Sisters, as I have cared to be thankful for your affections past, and here made the understanding acquainted with some ground of your favours; let me not despair their continuance, to the maturing of some worthier fruits; wherein, if my muses be true to me, I shall raise the German bawds: As for the vile and slothful, who never affected an act worthy of celebration, or are so inward with their own vicious natures, as they worthily fear her, and think it an high point of policy to keep her in contempt, with their declamatory and windy invectives; she shall out of just rage incite her servants who are genus irritabile to spout ink in their faces, that shall eat farther than their marrow into their fames; and not Cinnamus the barber, with his art, shall be able to take out the brands; but they shall live, and be read, till the wretches die, as things worst deserving of themselves in chief, and then of all mankind.
Lumpen, Klamotten, Lappen, Kluft, Fetzen. V olpone, childless, rich, feigns sick, despairs, O ffers his state to hopes of several heirs, L ies languishing: N ew tricks for safety are sought; they thrive: Now, luck yet sends us, and a little wit Will serve to make our play hit; According to the palates of the season Here is rhime, not empty of reason. This we were bid to credit from our poet, Whose true scope, if you would know it, In all his poems still hath been this measure, To mix profit with your pleasure; And not as some, whose throats their envy failing, Cry hoarsely, All he writes is railing: And when his plays come forth, think they can flout them, With saying, he was a year about them.
To this there needs no lie, but this his creature, Which was two months since no feature; And though he dares give them five lives to mend it, 'Tis known, five weeks fully penn'd it, From his own hand, without a coadjutor, Novice, journey-man, or tutor. Yet thus much I can give you as a token Of his play's worth, no eggs are broken, Nor quaking custards with fierce teeth affrighted, Wherewith your rout are so delighted; Nor hales he in a gull old ends reciting, To stop gaps in his loose writing; With such a deal of monstrous and forced action, As might make Bethlem a faction: Nor made he his play for jests stolen from each table, But makes jests to fit his fable; And so presents quick comedy refined, As best critics have designed; The laws of time, place, persons he observeth, From no needful rule he swerveth.
All gall and copperas from his ink he draineth, Only a little salt remaineth, Wherewith he'll rub your cheeks, till red, with laughter, They shall look fresh a week after. Ben Jonson 33 ACT 1. Good morning to the day; and next, my gold: Open the shrine, that I may see my Saint. O thou son of Sol, But brighter than thy father, let me kiss, With adoration, thee, and every relick German adoration: Pracht, Glorie, Ruhm, Prunk, Ehre. Well did wise poets, by thy glorious name, Title that age which they would have the best; Thou being the best of things: Thy looks when they to Venus did ascribe, They should have given her twenty thousand Cupids; Such are thy beauties and our loves!
Dear saint, Riches, the dumb God, that giv'st all men tongues; That canst do nought, and yet mak'st men do all things; The price of souls; even hell, with thee to boot, Is made worth heaven. Thou art virtue, fame, Honour, and all things else. And what he will, sir. Riches are in fortune A greater good than wisdom is in nature.
True, my beloved Mosca. Yet I glory More in the cunning purchase of my wealth, Than in the glad possession; since I gain No common way; I use no trade, no venture; I wound no earth with plough-shares; fat no beasts, To feed the shambles; have no mills for iron, Oil, corn, or men, to grind them into powder: I blow no subtle glass; expose no ships To threat'nings of the furrow-faced sea; I turn no monies in the public bank, Nor usure private.
Hinterlist, Schlauheit, ausgekocht, beloved: Herzchen, allerliebst, auserkoren, dumb: No sir, nor devour Soft prodigals. You shall have some will swallow A melting heir as glibly as your Dutch Will pills of butter, and ne'er purge for it; Tear forth the fathers of poor families Out of their beds, and coffin them alive In some kind clasping prison, where their bones May be forth-coming, when the flesh is rotten: But your sweet nature doth abhor these courses; You lothe the widdow's or the orphan's tears Should wash your pavements, or their piteous cries Ring in your roofs, and beat the air for vengeance.
Right, Mosca; I do lothe it. And besides, sir, You are not like a thresher that doth stand With a huge flail, watching a heap of corn, And, hungry, dares not taste the smallest grain, But feeds on mallows, and such bitter herbs; Nor like the merchant, who hath fill'd his vaults With Romagnia, and rich Candian wines, Yet drinks the lees of Lombard's vinegar: You will not lie in straw, whilst moths and worms Feed on your sumptuous hangings and soft beds; You know the use of riches, and dare give now From that bright heap, to me, your poor observer, Or to your dwarf, or your hermaphrodite, Your eunuch, or what other household-trifle Your pleasure allows maintenance.
Eunuch, Entmanntner, Kastrat, Verschnittener. Schmelzen, schmelzend, Tauwetter, Abtauen. Call forth my dwarf, my eunuch, and my fool, And let them make me sport. I have no wife, no parent, child, ally, To give my substance to; but whom I make Must be my heir: This draws new clients daily, to my house, Women and men of every sex and age, That bring me presents, send me plate, coin, jewels, With hope that when I die which they expect Each greedy minute it shall then return Ten-fold upon them; whilst some, covetous Above the rest, seek to engross me whole, And counter-work the one unto the other, Contend in gifts, as they would seem in love: All which I suffer, playing with their hopes, And am content to coin them into profit, To look upon their kindness, and take more, And look on that; still bearing them in hand, Letting the cherry knock against their lips, And draw it by their mouths, and back again.
If you wonder at this, you will wonder more ere we pass, For know, here is inclosed the soul of Pythagoras, That juggler divine, as hereafter shall follow; Which soul, fast and loose, sir, came first from Apollo, And was breath'd into Aethalides; Mercurius his son, Where it had the gift to remember all that ever was done. From thence it fled forth, and made quick transmigration To goldy-lock'd Euphorbus, who was killed in good fashion, At the siege of old Troy, by the cuckold of Sparta. Hermotimus was next I find it in my charta To whom it did pass, where no sooner it was missing But with one Pyrrhus of Delos it learn'd to go a fishing; And thence did it enter the sophist of Greece.
From Pythagore, she went into a beautiful piece, Hight Aspasia, the meretrix; and the next toss of her Was again of a whore, she became a philosopher, Crates the cynick, as it self doth relate it: Since kings, knights, and beggars, knaves, lords and fools gat it, Besides, ox and ass, camel, mule, goat, and brock, In all which it hath spoke, as in the cobler's cock. His musics, his trigon, his golden thigh, Or his telling how elements shift, but I Would ask, how of late thou best suffered translation, And shifted thy coat in these days of reformation. Jenseits, danach, Paradies, nachher, Himmel, Firmament, Ewigkeit.
Reformation, Kirchenreform, Reformierung, Reform. Spur, das Bisschen, Kleinster Teil. Like one of the reformed, a fool, as you see, Counting all old doctrine heresy. But not on thine own forbid meats hast thou ventured? On fish, when first a Carthusian I enter'd. Why, then thy dogmatical silence hath left thee? Of that an obstreperous lawyer bereft me. O wonderful change, when sir lawyer forsook thee!
For Pythagore's sake, what body then took thee? A good dull mule. But from the mule into whom didst thou pass? Into a very strange beast, by some writers call'd an ass; By others, a precise, pure, illuminate brother, Of those devour flesh, and sometimes one another; And will drop you forth a libel, or a sanctified lie, Betwixt every spoonful of a nativity pie. Tier, Biest, Bestie, Vieh, Getier. Now quit thee, for heaven, of that profane nation; And gently report thy next transmigration.
To the same that I am. A creature of delight, And, what is more than a fool, an hermaphrodite! Now, prithee, sweet soul, in all thy variation, Which body would'st thou choose, to keep up thy station? Troth, this I am in: Alas, those pleasures be stale and forsaken; No, 'tis your fool wherewith I am so taken, The only one creature that I can call blessed: For all other forms I have proved most distressed. Spoke true, as thou wert in Pythagoras still. This learned opinion we celebrate will, Fellow eunuch, as behoves us, with all our wit and art, To dignify that whereof ourselves are so great and special a part.
Now, very, very pretty! Mosca, this Was thy invention? If it please my patron, Not else. It doth, good Mosca. Then it was, sir. Free from care or sorrow-taking, Selves and others merry making: All they speak or do is sterling. Your fool he is your great man's darling, And your ladies' sport and pleasure; Tongue and bauble are his treasure. E'en his face begetteth laughter, And he speaks truth free from slaughter; He's the grace of every feast, And sometimes the chiefest guest; Hath his trencher and his stool, When wit waits upon the fool: O, who would not be He, he, he?
Spielzeug, der Tand, die Spielerei, Spielerei. Fetch me my gown, My furs and night-caps; say, my couch is changing, And let him entertain himself awhile Without i' the gallery. A piece of plate, sir.
Moby Multiple Language Lists of Common Words by Grady Ward - Free Ebook
Huge, Massy, and antique, with your name inscribed, And arms engraven. Give me my furs. Eingeschnitten, eingravieren, einschnitzen, gravieren. Kleid, Robe, Talar, Abendkleid. Drehend, kehrend, wendend, drechselnd, Drehen, umwendend, umdrehend, Schwenke, Schwenkungen, Gangbar, Drehung. Heimsuchung, Besichtigung, Besuch, Inspektion. I cannot choose, sir, when I apprehend What thoughts he has without now, as he walks: That this might be the last gift he should give; That this would fetch you; if you died to-day, And gave him all, what he should be to-morrow; What large return would come of all his ventures; How he should worship'd be, and reverenced; Ride with his furs, and foot-cloths; waited on By herds of fools, and clients; have clear way Made for his mule, as letter'd as himself; Be call'd the great and learned advocate: And then concludes, there's nought impossible.
Yes, to be learned, Mosca. Hood an ass with reverend purple, So you can hide his two ambitious ears, And he shall pass for a cathedral doctor. My caps, my caps, good Mosca. Stay, sir, your ointment for your eyes. That's true; Dispatch, dispatch: I long to have possession Of my new present.
That, and thousands more, I hope, to see you lord of. Nay, that were too much, Mosca. You shall live, Still, to delude these harpies. He comes; I hear him--Uh! You still are what you were, sir. Only you, Of all the rest, are he commands his love, And you do wisely to preserve it thus, With early visitation, and kind notes Of your good meaning to him, which, I know, German apoplexy: Husten, kurz unf trocken husten, der Husten.
Kopfkissen, Kissen, Polster, das Kissen. Sir, signior Voltore is come this morning To visit you. And hath brought A piece of antique plate, bought of St Mark, With which he here presents you. Pray him to come more often.
- Fibble: The Fourth Circle of Heck.
- InterGalactic Medicine Show Issue 1.
- Similar Books;
He thanks you, and desires you see him often. Bring him near, where is he? I long to feel his hand. The plate is here, sir. How fare you, sir? I thank you, signior Voltore; Where is the plate? You are too munificent. No sir; would to heaven, I could as well give health to you, as that plate! You give, sir, what you can: Your love Hath taste in this, and shall not be unanswer'd: I pray you see me often.
Yes, I shall sir. Bergwerk, meiner, Grube, Mine, meines, mein, Zeche, meine, der meine, verminen, die meine. Be not far from me. Do you observe that, sir? Hearken unto me still; it will concern you. You are a happy man, sir; know your good. You are his heir, sir. I feel me going; Uh! I'm sailing to my port, Uh! And I am glad I am so near my haven. Am I inscribed his heir for certain? Ben Jonson 47 I do beseech you, sir, you will vouchsafe To write me in your family.
All my hopes Depend upon your worship: I am lost, Except the rising sun do shine on me. It shall both shine, and warm thee, Mosca. Sir, I am a man, that hath not done your love All the worst offices: Husband your goods here. But am I sole heir? Without a partner, sir; confirm'd this morning: The wax is warm yet, and the ink scarce dry Upon the parchment. By what good chance, sweet Mosca?
Your desert, sir; I know no second cause. Thy modesty Is not to know it; well, we shall requite it. I oft have heard him say, how he admired Men of your large profession, that could speak To every cause, and things mere contraries, Till they were hoarse again, yet all be law; That, with most quick agility, could turn, And [re-] return; [could] make knots, and undo them; Give forked counsel; take provoking gold On either hand, and put it up: And, for his part, he thought he should be blest To have his heir of such a suffering spirit, So wise, so grave, of so perplex'd a tongue, And loud withal, that would not wag, nor scarce Lie still, without a fee; when every word Your worship but lets fall, is a chequin!
And yet--pretend you came, and went in haste: I'll fashion an excuse. I have not been your worst of clients. When will you have your inventory brought, sir? Or see a coppy of the will? Ratschlag, Rechtsanwalt, Rat, Anwalt, ratgeben, raten, Advokat, avisieren, beraten. Schalk, wedeln, wackeln, Scherzbold. Ben Jonson 49 I will bring them to you, sir. Away, be gone, Put business in your face. Come hither, let me kiss thee. Keep you still, sir. Set the plate away: The vulture's gone, and the old raven's come!
Betake you to your silence, and your sleep: Stand there and multiply. You're very welcome, sir. How does your patron? Troth, as he did, sir; no amends. Stille, Schweigen, Ruhe, Stillschweigen, das Schweigen auferlegen. Upon his couch sir, newly fall'n asleep. Does he sleep well? No wink, sir, all this night. Nor yesterday; but slumbers. I have brought him An opiate here, from mine own doctor. He will not hear of drugs. I myself Stood by while it was made; saw all the ingredients: And know, it cannot but most gently work: My life for his, 'tis but to make him sleep.
Sir, He has no faith in physic. Glaube, Vertrauen, Zuversicht, Glauben. He has no faith in physic: I often have Heard him protest, that your physician Should never be his heir. Not I his heir? Not your physician, sir. O, no, no, no, I do not mean it. No, sir, nor their fees He cannot brook: Right, I do conceive you. And then they do it by experiment; For which the law not only doth absolve them, But gives them great reward: It is true, they kill, With as much license as a judge.
Richter, beurteilen, urteilen, richten, Preisrichter. Lizenz, Erlaubnis, lizenzieren, Gewerbeschein, erlauben, Genehmigung. Einspruch, protestieren, Protest, anfechten, beanstanden, Widerspruch, Gegenrede, Einspruch erheben. Nay, more; For he but kills, sir, where the law condemns, And these can kill him too. Ay, or me; Or any man. How does his apoplex? Is that strong on him still? Stronger then he was wont? His mouth Is ever gaping, and his eyelids hang. A freezing numbness stiffens all his joints, And makes the colour of his flesh like lead.
His pulse beats slow, and dull. I conceive you; good. Flows a cold sweat, with a continual rheum, Forth the resolved corners of his eyes. How does he, with the swimming of his head? O, sir, 'tis past the scotomy; he now Hath lost his feeling, and hath left to snort: You hardly can perceive him, that he breathes. This makes me young again, a score of years. I was a coming for you, sir. Has he made his will? What has he given me? He has not made his will, sir. But what did Voltore, the Lawyer, here? He came unto him, did he? Yes, and presented him this piece of plate.
To be his heir? I do not know, sir. I know it too. Well, I shall prevent him, yet. See, Mosca, look, German carcase: Ben Jonson 55 Here, I have brought a bag of bright chequines, Will quite weigh down his plate. This is true physic, this your sacred medicine, No talk of opiates, to this great elixir! It shall be minister'd to him, in his bowl. Ay, do, do, do.
This will recover him. Yes, do, do, do. I think it were not best, sir. O, no, no, no; by no means. Why, sir, this Will work some strange effect, if he but feel it. Give me it again. At no hand; pardon me: You shall not do yourself that wrong, sir. I Will so advise you, you shall have it all. All, sir; 'tis your right, your own; no man Can claim a part: How, how, good Mosca?
I'll tell you sir. This fit he shall recover. I do conceive you. And, on first advantage Of his gain'd sense, will I re-importune him Unto the making of his testament: And shew him this. Anspruch, Forderung, beanspruchen, Anspruch machen auf, fordern, erheben, beantragen, einklagen, Anpruch geltend machen auf, einfordern, anfragen. Verzeihung, Begnadigung, der euere, der deine, das deine, ihre, Vergebung, verzeihen, ihres.
Yes, with all my heart. Now, would I counsel you, make home with speed; There, frame a will; whereto you shall inscribe My master your sole heir. And disinherit My son! O, sir, the better: This will sir, you shall send it unto me. Now, when I come to inforce, as I will do, Your cares, your watchings, and your many prayers, Your more than many gifts, your this day's present, And last, produce your will; where, without thought, Or least regard, unto your proper issue, A son so brave, and highly meriting, The stream of your diverted love hath thrown you Upon my master, and made him your heir: He must pronounce me his?
This plot Did I think on before. I do believe it. Do you not believe it? Which, when he hath done, sir. Publish'd me his heir? I thought on that too. See, how he should be The very organ to express my thoughts! Projekt, Entwurf, Plan, projizieren, Vorhaben, entwerfen, projektieren, hochrechnen, planen. But multiplied it on my son. I do conceive, sweet Mosca.
You are he, For whom I labour here. Ay, do, do, do: I'll straight about it. Rook go with you, raven! I know thee honest. Erfindung, Entdeckung, begreift, sich vorstellen, entwickelst. Your knowledge is no better than your ears, sir. I do not doubt, to be a father to thee. Nor I to gull my brother of his blessing. I may have my youth restored to me, why not? Your worship is a precious ass! I do desire your worship to make haste, sir. Contain Your flux of laughter, sir: O, but thy working, and thy placing it! Zweifel, bezweifeln, zweifeln, Bedenken, anzweifeln. Ben Jonson 61 I cannot hold; good rascal, let me kiss thee: I never knew thee in so rare a humour.
Alas sir, I but do as I am taught; Follow your grave instructions; give them words; Pour oil into their ears, and send them hence. What a rare punishment Is avarice to itself! Ay, with our help, sir. Returning to complain about being tricked into an encounter with a dominatrix, Tadokoro complains about the various indignities he's experienced while Mayama hastily scribbles notes.
Mayama reminds Tadokoro's of his declaration of having stamina, to which the young man can only sputter, "That's not the point". It's a scene that doesn't seem all to removed from Cary Grant having a temper tantrum while wearing Katherine Hepburn's nightgown. As if taking its queues from classic Hollywood, Tadokoro engages in a relationship with the more traditionally feminine Akane, small, cute, and cheerful. And like older films, the male protagonist feels a sense of dissatisfaction, longing for the more independent and willful female.
Akane's is no pushover either, with the two parting on her terms. This is Yuki Tanada's only film at this time to get a U. I wrote about her One Million Yen Girl almost three years ago. Like that film, Electric Button falls outside the more easily identifiable genre classifications used nowadays to market Asian cinema. This is a low key mostly comic film, which briefly touches on some serious points suggesting that still in Japan, there are certain expectations made of female artists.
So we're into baseball season, but also it might be considered less than coincidental that this new DVD version of Aviva Kempner's documentary is released almost at the same time as the theatrical release of the new movie about Jackie Robinson, While Hank Greenberg was not the first Jewish major league player, he was the first one to be a national celebrity. Retired from the field, and as part of the front office of the Cleveland Indians, Greenberg did his part to make baseball racially integrated.
Additionally, during his last year as a player, although playing on opposing teams, Greenberg was one of the first to be openly supportive of Robinson, as well as establish a personal friendship. I had seen this film during its original theatrical release. If you haven't seen it any format, get to it! The original film includes a commentary by Kempner who discusses the thirteen years it took to make her movie. In additional to archival footage and photographs of Greenberg and other players, there are clips from several classic baseball movies. Near the end, there is also the inclusion of one of the high points from the Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera , where the orchestra plays "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", with ball tossing between Chico and Harpo, while Groucho hawks the "peanuts and Crackerjacks".
The film begins with "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" sung in Yiddish, which sets the stage for the main thesis, about is almost as much about Jewish life in America as it is about Hank Greenberg. The main reason that this new DVD release replaces the previous version is because of the second disc.
At over two hours, it's virtually a whole second movie. In addition to deleted segments of interviews with celebrity fans like Walter Matthau and Alan Dershowitz, there's a further investigation into the history of baseball. We're not talking simply about who played and when, but also how the game was played.
Part of this history is of how Babe Ruth changed the game, with the support of fans, to one of power hitting and home runs. Also, how many of the early major league players were from the rural south, citing Dizzy Dean as a prime example. The additional footage may also put to rest any debate as to whether Greenberg was robbed of the opportunity to meet or beat Babe Ruth's record of home runs in a single season.
One of the other bonuses of this second disc is the inclusion of a telephone interview Kempner made with baseball great Ted Williams. When it comes to baseball, I am admittedly a casual fan. Still, after a little more than ten years, I was excited about seeing this documentary again.
And for the more die hard baseball fan, this is a great way to spend the time when the game you planned to watch is blacked out or rained out, or worse, locked out. The characters played by Yen and Takeshi Kaneshiro are lifted from the archetypes first established in Les Miserables. Yen is first seen as a quiet family man who runs a rural paper mill.
Yen, as Jin-xi, just happens to be in a small shop when two thugs show up demanding money from the older couple who run the store. A fight ensues with lots of punches, an ear lopped off, and the two strangers dead. The modest Jin-xi is hailed as a hero, yet the visiting detective, Bai-jiu, has questions about the fight, who really had the upper hand, as well as questions about Jin-xi. Like Jean Valjean, Jin-xi reveals more about himself when his physical abilities are put to the test, while Bai-jiu is like Javert, setting aside any sense of humanism in the name of enforcing the law.
For some, the biggest mystery to Dragon is why someone thought the original title, Wu Xia needed to be changed, especially as it is used in both the film and the extras. I'm not even sure why the film was titled Wu Xia in the first place as such a title suggests a film more along the lines of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. On a somewhat related note, Gordan Liu's original Chinese personal name in Jin-xi. Those quibbles aside, Dragon is intriguing to watch, primarily for the gamesmanship between Yen and Kaneshiro. For the fan of classic martial arts films, there are two set pieces featuring Shaw Brothers veterans.
The first, with Kara Hui, looking great for what what the French would describe as being a "woman of a certain age", involves a rooftop chase, and a fight inside a very small barn with some very large water buffalos, that happens to be built over a waterfall. The second big fight scene is a face off between Yen and Jimmy Wang Yu. Brought back from retirement, and well into his Sixties as the time the film was made, Wang is still very formidable. Older and heavier, he still looks like he can kick your ass without little effort definitely mine.
Lots of punches and slashing of swords left me catching my breath when this fight was over. Titles inform the viewer that the film takes place in If it weren't for the then contemporary hat and glasses worn by Kaneshiro, or the the uniforms of several policemen, it would be impossible to guess that Dragon takes place in the early part of the 20th Century. I would guess this establishment of time is used as a reminder of what Chinese life was like outside of the major urban centers, with a plot predicated on the kind of existence where people rarely left their home villages, and sons were expected to carry on the trade of their fathers.
Traditional notions of filial piety are touched upon several times here. After The Warlords and Perhaps Love , Peter Chan appears to have wanted to work on something not quite elaborate as those previous films. It is not surprising, based on his earlier work, that some of the nicest scenes are those of family life with Tang Wei as Jin-xi's wife, Ayu, and the two boys as their sons. Donnie Yen staged the action scenes, and in the supplements explains the challenges for both himself, the other actors and the crew.
Almost fifty, I would not expect to see Yen in many more films showing off his martial arts skills, though he remains a charismatic screen presence, and with Ballistic Kiss , is also quite capable as a film director. Vielleicht muss man den Monumentalfilm-Fluch als eine Art Initiationsritus begreifen: Leider gibt es von diesen Momenten zu wenige.
Langeweile macht sich breit. Kaum weniger problematisch ist die ideologische Seite des Films: Wenn die Mauern Sodoms also dekorativ zusammenfallen und die Einwohner unter sich begraben, ist das zwar sehr ansehnlich umgesetzt, aber auch mit einem faden Beigeschmack versehen. My stream My TV My friends. You are at the newest post. Click here to check if anything new just came in. I was flipping channels on the TV and watching baseball on my laptop, she was poking around on her phone. The trailer for the new Gatsby film came on. Baz Lurhmann, 3D, glitz and glamour, and musical numbers. We stopped what we were [ A Boy and His Atom: Bon Mots animation atom experimental film collecting IBM magnetics microscope science.
Artist of the Day: Linda Williams, Playing the Race Card: Remaking Television Culture New York: The Still Point of the Turning World: A Sofia Coppola Playlist. My Sofia Coppola month will really kick into high gear this week with many more of my own posts and hopefully the first guest submission. As a soundtrack I have created the first of two Sofia Coppola inspired playlists over at Spotify. This one highlights some of the many instrumentals Sofia has used in her films from The Virgin Suicides all the way up to the upcoming The Bling Ring.