The Works of Thomas Southerne Volume I

This two-volume collection--based on an exhaustive study of the earliest editions--brings together Southerne's ten plays and the small surviving body of non-dramatic writing. Along with his two well-known tragedies, The Fatal Marriage and Oroonoko , these volumes also include three outstanding comedies, Sir Anthony Love , The Wives' Excuse , and The Maid's Last Prayer , which have been praised in recent studies of Restoration drama for their wit, psychological realism, and adventurous stagecraft. The introduction contains the first biography of Southerne based on a comprehensive study of the surviving documentary records, and the editors have incorporated generous notes clarifying the many contemporary allusions and relating Southerne's work to its sources and models.