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11%OFFPamela Allen Brown - Better a Shrew Than a Sheep: Women, Drama, and the Culture of Jest in Early Modern England - 9780801488368 - V9780801488368
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Better a Shrew Than a Sheep: Women, Drama, and the Culture of Jest in Early Modern England

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Description for Better a Shrew Than a Sheep: Women, Drama, and the Culture of Jest in Early Modern England Paperback. Num Pages: 280 pages, 14. BIC Classification: 1DBKE; 3J; DSBD; JFFK. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational; (UP) Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly; (UU) Undergraduate. Dimension: 152 x 230 x 18. Weight in Grams: 396.

In a study that explodes the assumption that early modern comic culture was created by men for men, Pamela Allen Brown shows that jest books, plays, and ballads represented women as laugh-getters and sought out the laughter of ordinary women. Disputing the claim that non-elite women had little access to popular culture because of their low literacy and social marginality, Brown demonstrates that women often bested all comers in the arenas of jesting, gaining a few heady moments of agency.

Juxtaposing the literature of jest against court records, sermons, and conduct books, Brown employs a witty, entertaining style to ... Read more

Brown argues that listening for women's laughter can shed light on both the dramas of the street and those of the stage: plays from The Massacre of the Innocents to The Merry Wives of Windsor to The Woman's Prize taught audiences the importance of gossips' alliances as protection against slanderers, lechers, tyrants, and wife-beaters. Other jests, ballads, jigs, and plays show women reveling in tales of female roguery or scoffing at the perverse patience of Griselda. As Brown points out, some women found Griselda types annoying and even foolish: better be a shrew than a sheep.

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Product Details

Format
Paperback
Publication date
2003
Publisher
Cornell University Press New York
Number of pages
288
Condition
New
Number of Pages
280
Place of Publication
Ithaca, United States
ISBN
9780801488368
SKU
V9780801488368
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-1

About Pamela Allen Brown
Pamela Allen Brown is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Connecticut, Stamford.

Reviews for Better a Shrew Than a Sheep: Women, Drama, and the Culture of Jest in Early Modern England
Better a Shrew does a brilliant job of locating female jesting within a network of the social practices that made up the early modern neighborhood.... It is one of those rare scholarly books that combines thorough research in a new field with conclusions that make us reconsider long-held convictions. It will be a potent force in future discussions of both ... Read more

Goodreads reviews for Better a Shrew Than a Sheep: Women, Drama, and the Culture of Jest in Early Modern England


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