This volume provides a detailed overview of the Towneley cycle of plays, which were written c. 1500. The plays begin with the fall of Lucifer and end with the Last Judgement. Peter Happé examines the cycle’s textual and manuscript history and discusses issues of language and style, the structure of the cycle, and its possible sources and analogues. He also addresses the historical and religious context of the cycle and its performance history.
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Problem of Unity
PART ONE: THE TEXT
1. Prologue: Place and Date
1. Prologue: Place and Date
1.1 The Manuscript
1.2 York and Towneley
1.3 Provenances and Authorship
1.4 The Wakefield Master
PART TWO: PERFORMING THE CYCLE
2. Prologue: Some Questions of Performance
2. Prologue: Some Questions of Performance
2.1 Dramaturgy
2.2 Modern Revivals
2.3 Special Features
PART THREE: IDEOLOGIES AND INTERPRETATIVE STRATEGIES
3. Prologue: Interpretations
3.1 Gender
3.2 Religion and Popular Culture
3.2.1 Religion
3.2.2 Popular Culture
3.3 Social Contexts
3.4 Interrelations in the Psychology of Evil
3.5 Good Men and Women
PART FOUR: NEGOTIATING THE TEXT
4. Prologue
4.1 Development
4.2 Playing and Reception
4.3 Interpretations and Structure