A WORLD DIVIDED: THE PLAYS OF HENRY ARTHUR JONES.
Item
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Title
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A WORLD DIVIDED: THE PLAYS OF HENRY ARTHUR JONES.
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Identifier
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AAI8023699
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identifier
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8023699
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Creator
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DOMERASKI, REGINA.
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Contributor
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Morton N. Cohen
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Date
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1980
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, English
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Abstract
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Henry Arthur Jones (1851-1929) was one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian and early Edwardian theater. He was an important transitional figure who, with his idealism and energy, triggered in 1889 the remarkable Renascence on the London stage which culminated in the vital modern theater still performed in Britain today. Jones's career can be divided into four periods. Between 1878 and 1888, he worked mainly as a writer of melodrama. With the actor-manager Wilson Barrett and his associate Henry Herman, Jones wrote The Silver King (1882), one of the most successful melodramas of its day. He caught the attention of a more serious audience with the controversial production of his Saints and Sinners in 1884. Between 1889 and 1896, Jones enjoyed his most influential period as a dramatist. Some of his plays, such as The Dancing Girl (1891), The Masqueraders (1894) and The Case of Rebellious Susan (1894), were enormous theatrical successes but flawed artistically. Others like The Crusaders (1891), The Triumph of the Philistines (1895) and Michael and His Lost Angel (1896) were dismal failures but substantial achievements as drama. Jones's third period (1896-1906) was one of disillusionment and cynicism. Writing for the actor-manager Charles Wyndham, he had notable successes with The Liars (1897) and Mrs. Dane's Defence (1900). After 1900, Jones's artistic personality grew increasingly two-sided. On the one hand, he wrote genial, laughing comedies like Joseph Entangled (1904) while, on the other, he wrote serious, rigidly moral plays like The Sword of Gideon (1905). During his fourth period (1906-1919), Jones's health broke down completely, but he recovered and in 1913 wrote his finest play, Mary Goes First, a feather-light satire with a biting edge. After several years during which he was embroiled in social and political controversy, he died in 1929.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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English
