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Etherege, Sir George
Etherege, Sir George or Sir George Etheredge, (1636–91/2). His first comedy, The Comical Revenge, or Love in a Tub, was performed in 1664. The serious portions are in rhymed heroics, setting a fashion that was followed for some years, while the lively and realistic comic underplot, in prose, was the foundation of the English comedy of manners of Congreve and Goldsmith; Etherege drew his inspiration in part from Molière's farces and from Italian mime. In 1668 She Wou'd if she Cou'd was performed. His best play, The Man of Mode, was performed in 1676. He was knighted, c.1680, and was an envoy of James II in Ratisbon (Regensburg), 1685–9; his Letterbook, recording his stay and his nonchalant attitude to his duties was edited in 1928 by S. Rosenfeld. His polished and fashionable comedies were savagely attacked as immoral and coarse by the more genteel generation of Steele, and the 19th cent. found them formless and plotless, but they now enjoy a high reputation.
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Etherege, Sir George." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Etherege, Sir George." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-EtheregeSirGeorge.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Etherege, Sir George." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-EtheregeSirGeorge.html |
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Etherege, Sir George
Etherege, Sir George (1634–91), English dramatist, the first to attempt the social comedy of manners imported from Paris and later perfected by Congreve and Sheridan. His first play, The Comical Revenge; or, Love in a Tub (1664), was a serious verse drama with a comic prose subplot. Etherege explored this latter style further in his two later comedies, She Would if She Could (1668) and The Man of Mode (1676). The latter is a picture of a society living exclusively for amusement, with a tenuous plot of entangled love-affairs offering an opportunity for brilliant dialogue and character-drawing. It contains the ‘prince of fops’, Sir Fopling Flutter, and the heartless, witty Dorimant, often considered a portrait of Lord Rochester, just as the poet Bellair is supposed to be Etherege himself.
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Cite this article
PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Etherege, Sir George." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Etherege, Sir George." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-EtheregeSirGeorge.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Etherege, Sir George." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-EtheregeSirGeorge.html |
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Sir George Etherege
Sir George Etherege , 1636–1692, English dramatist. His witty, licentious comedies— The Comical Revenge; or, Love in a Tub (1664) and She Wou'd If She Cou'd (1668)—set the tone of the Restoration comedy of manners that Congreve was to continue. His last play, The Man of Mode (1676), is famous for its creation of the great fop, Sir Fopling Flutter. His years spent as English minister to Ratisbon (1685–89) are recorded in his Letterbook (ed. by Sybil Rosenfeld, 1928).
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Cite this article
"Sir George Etherege." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Sir George Etherege." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Etherege.html "Sir George Etherege." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Etherege.html |
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