John Gay: The Beggar's Opera
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
First staged in 1728 to thunderous applause at Lincoln's Inn Fields, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera remains one of the most subversive, witty, and politically charged theatrical works in the entire canon of British literature. Set in the criminal underworld of London, the play chronicles the roguish exploits of highwayman Macheath, whose romantic entanglements with the daughters of both a fence and a jailer spiral into a brilliantly constructed satire of Whig politics, Italian opera conventions, and the moral hypocrisy of Georgian society. Edited with scholarly precision by Peter Lewis, this edition presents Gay's masterwork alongside critical apparatus that illuminates its rich layers of parody and social commentary. Gay's genius lay in his ability to hold a mirror up to the ruling classes by dressing his critique in the colourful rags of London's thieves and prostitutes — arguing, with devastating irony, that the powerful and the criminal are one and the same. Lewis's editorial guidance offers both the casual reader and the serious student the tools to fully appreciate why this ballad opera not only ran for sixty-two consecutive nights upon its debut, but continues to provoke and enchant audiences to this day.
Author: Peter Lewis (Editor)
Format: Paperback
Genre: Plays
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
First staged in 1728 to thunderous applause at Lincoln's Inn Fields, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera remains one of the most subversive, witty, and politically charged theatrical works in the entire canon of British literature. Set in the criminal underworld of London, the play chronicles the roguish exploits of highwayman Macheath, whose romantic entanglements with the daughters of both a fence and a jailer spiral into a brilliantly constructed satire of Whig politics, Italian opera conventions, and the moral hypocrisy of Georgian society. Edited with scholarly precision by Peter Lewis, this edition presents Gay's masterwork alongside critical apparatus that illuminates its rich layers of parody and social commentary. Gay's genius lay in his ability to hold a mirror up to the ruling classes by dressing his critique in the colourful rags of London's thieves and prostitutes — arguing, with devastating irony, that the powerful and the criminal are one and the same. Lewis's editorial guidance offers both the casual reader and the serious student the tools to fully appreciate why this ballad opera not only ran for sixty-two consecutive nights upon its debut, but continues to provoke and enchant audiences to this day.