Böcker av George Etherege

She Woud if She Coud is a witty and risqué Restoration-era comedy by Sir George Etherege. The play tells the story of a young widow named Lady Cockwood who is determined to find a new husband. The play is rich with clever dialogue and double entendres and offers a glimpse into the world of the Restoration court. This edition includes an introduction that places the play in its historical and literary context.This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

After the restoration of King Charles II to the British throne in 1660, dramatists experienced new freedom in an age that broke from the strict morality of puritan rule and in which elegance and wit became the chief virtues. Irreverent, licentious and cynical, the three plays collected here hold up a mirror to this dazzling era and satirize the gulf between appearances and reality. In Etherege's The Man of Mode (1676), the womanizing Dorimant meets his match when he falls in love with the unpretentious Harriet, while Wycherley's The Country Wife (c. 1675) depicts the rakish Horner who fakes impotence to fool trusting husbands into giving him easy access to their wives. And in Congreve's Love for Love (1695), the extravagant Valentine can only win his beloved Angelica if he loses his inheritance.

The most perfectly poised of Restoration comedies, The Man of Mode is a finished exercise in dramatic sprezzatura, matching the beguiling 'easiness' and 'complaisance' of its central character. Its seemingly casual construction and breaches of comic decorum mask an artistic control designed to upset the complacency of our moral, social and aesthetic assumptions, luring us into sympathy for a character whose dangerous 'wildness' we should deplore.The modernised play text is accompanied by incisive commentary notes, while the introduction unpacks the complexity of the Restoration's political and theatrical context, analyses the play's performance history and demonstrates Etherege's linguistic artistry.

First staged in 1676, "The Man of Mode" is perhaps the most typical 'Restoration Comedy'. This title is published alongside a revival of this play at the National Theatre, staged by the Artisitic Director, Nicholas Hytner.