Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist
The Essential Guide to Early Modern Fairy Belief
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8933930 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Piotr Spyra (0000-0003-0357-0271, ORCID, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 128 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 292-313 |
| Publication date | 2017-07-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Folklore (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0015-587X • E-ISSN: 1469-8315 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0015587x.2017.1327632 |
| OpenAlex | W2747613415 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 29 |
Ben Jonson’s 1610 city comedy The Alchemist uses the motif of fairy patronage in one of its subplots, effectively ridiculing fairy belief alongside religious factionalism, greed, wrathfulness, and various other vices. Jonson’s use of the changeling or fairy midwife motif and his awareness of the early modern demonization of fairies have already been noted in criticism, as has his indebtedness to fairy cozenage pamphlets circulating in the period. This article investigates the extent of Jonson’s direct inspiration from fairy lore, pointing to an aesthetics of liminality at work throughout the play. The argument outlines Jonson’s creative and informed use of folkloric motifs commonly associated with fairies such as time-warp, fairy taboo, and the Wild Hunt
Aesthetics · Alchemy · Art · Comedy · Criticism · Demonization · Folklore · Liminality · Literature · MAGIC (telescope · Motif (music · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
Thomas Middleton, Vol. 1: The Collected Works
Airy Nothings: Imagining the Otherworld of Faerie from the Middle Ages to the Age of Reason
Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, Volume 5
The Forest of Symbols
Living with Religious Diversity in Early-Modern Europe
Plague Writing in Early Modern England
Elf Queens and Holy Friars
The Body Embarrassed
The Son of Orfeo
The complete poetry of Robert Herrick
The Occult Laboratory
The Popular Culture of Shakespeare, Spenser and Jonson
The Wild Hunt and the Witches' Sabbath
Research Article
Primitive Sense in Lamia
Motif-Index of Folk-Literature. A Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books and Local Legends
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads
The Good People
The Ritual Process
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,13 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2018 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |