"The Recruiting Officer
"The Recruiting Officer
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Summary
This collection of Farquhar's most regularly staged plays, complete with scholarly introduction and notes, discloses the brutal, witty and vigorously comic world in which he lived. The plays challenge preconceptions about class, marriage and the sexual politics of the early 18th century.
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"The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar
George Farquhar (1678-1707) wrote some of the most actable and exhilarating comedies in English. He recorded with great frankness the brutality and the disorder of his age as well as its wit and vivacity. In his tragically short life he had wide social experience, moving between Irish country gentry, the theatre, and the army, which enabled him to depict convincingly the lives of the poor, frequently tricked and coerced into army life. He veered between cynical acceptance of current sexual politics and a remarkably understanding view of his women characters. 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. They are based on first editions, but later textual changes are also included to reflect the fluid opportunism with which Farquhar handled comic conventions. In addition there is a scholarly introduction and detailed annotation, which bring into focus the many challenges which Farquhar posed to society. This book is intended for students of drama and literature of eighteenth century.
Farquhar, George: - George Farquhar (1678-1707) was an Irish-born playwright of the Restoration period. During his ten-year career, he produced two brilliant comedies, The Recruiting Officer in 1706 and The Beaux' Stratagem the following year. The son of a clergyman, he studied at Trinity College, Dublin, before briefly working as an actor at the Smock Alley Theatre in that city. Following an accident during a stage fight, when he mistakenly used a real sword and wounded a fellow actor so badly that he almost died, Farquhar renounced acting. Encouraged by his fellow actor Robert Wilks, he took up the pen and settled in London. His first play Love and a Bottle was well received at Drury Lane in 1698. The following year, The Constant Couple; or, A Trip to the Jubilee was an even greater hit with Wilks in the lead. After Sir Harry Wildair (1701), a sequel to The Constant Couple, and The Twin-Rivals (1702), he wrote his first great play. The first production of The Recruiting Officer starred Anne Oldfield, with whom Farquhar supposedly had an affair. The following year Farquhar, with not one shilling in his pocket, was encouraged by Wilks to produce a hastily written play. The next day Farquhar delivered the plot for The Beaux' Stratagem, which was presented on stage within six weeks. He died from tuberculosis after the third performance.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780192822499 |
| ISBN 10 | 0192822497 |
| Title | "The Recruiting Officer |
| Author | George Farquhar |
| Series | World's Classics |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 1995-10-19 |
| Number of pages | 428 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |