The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Jonson, Ben

Born June 11, 1573, in London; died there Aug. 6, 1637. English playwright, poet, and drama theoretician.

Jonson studied at Westminster School. His first comedy was The Case Is Altered (1597; published 1609). He collaborated with Marston and Chapman on the comedy Eastward Ho! (1605), which contained political allusions for which the authors were arrested. In 1616, Jonson edited a collection of his works. In the prologue to the plays he disputed the creative principles of his contemporaries, including his friend Shakespeare. He demanded conformity to the conditions of everyday life in the plot and a linear depiction of characters.

In the comedies Every Man in His Humour (1598) and Every Man out of His Humour (1599), Jonson explained the humors, according to his own theory, as individual “oddities.” However, in the comedies of manners Volpone, or the Fox (1605), Epicoene, or the Silent Woman (1609), The Alchemist (1610), and Bartholomew Fair (1614), he explained the humors as the typical social flaws of the aristocracy and bourgeoisie. The tragediesSejanus (1603) andCatiline (1611) embody the principles of classicism. Jonson also wrote approximately 30 masques—allegorical plays on mythological themes for performance at court.

WORKS

Works, vols. 1-11. Oxford, 1925-52.
The Complete Plays, vols. 1-2. London-New York, 1929-34.
Ben Jonson’s Literary Criticism. Lincoln, Neb. [1970].
In Russian translation:
Dramaticheskie proizv., vols. 1-2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1931-33. P’esy. Leningrad-Moscow, 1960.

REFERENCES

Varsher, S. A. Angliiskii teatr vremen Shekspira. Moscow-Petro-grad. 1920
Aksenov, I. Elizavetintsy. Moscow, 1938.
Istoriia angliiskoi literdtury, vol. 1, issue 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1945.
Istoriia zapadnoevropeiskogo teatra, vol. 1. Moscow, 1956.
Romm, A. S.Ben Dzhonson, 1573-1637. Leningrad-Moscow, 1958.
Bentley, G. E. Shakespeare and Jonson: Their Reputations in the
Seventeenth Century Compared, vols. 1-2. Chicago [1945].
Chute, M. Ben Jonson of Westminster. New York, 1953.
Tannenbaum, S. A. Ben Jonson: A Concise Bibliography. New York, 1938.

E. V. KORNILOVA