Acquaintances
(1) The Man of Mode
“The Man of Mode, or, Sir Fopling Flutter” is a Restoration comedy by George Etherege, written in 1676. The play is set in Restoration London and follows the womanizer Dorimant as he tries to win over the young heiress Harriet and to disengage himself from his affair with Mrs. Loveit. Despite the subtitle, the fop Sir Fopling is only one of several minor characters; the rake Dorimant is the protagonist. The play was Etherege’s third, last, and most popular. Some of this popularity arose because many of the main characters were assumed to be based on real individuals: Sir Fopling Flutter was based on Beau Hewitt, Dorimant was based on either Sir Charles Sedley or John Wilmot, and Medley based on Etherege himself. The play was written and performed in 1676. Thomas Betterton played the character of Dorimant and William Smith played Sir Fopling. It was immensely popular in its own day and is considered by scholars and critics to be one of the finest Restoration comedies.
(2) Vanice Preserved
Venice Preserv'd is an English Restoration play written by Thomas Otway, and the most significant tragedy of the English stage in the 1680s. It was first staged in 1682, with Thomas Betterton as Jaffeir and Elizabeth Barry as Belvidera. The play contains a fair number of political parallels. Venice Preserv'd also has several feminist issues. As the play was written in the Restoration period, when the legal protections for women were few, the emotional heart of the play is the vulnerability of women. Venice Preserv'd was one of the first of the she-tragedy plays.
(3) Love in a Wood
“Love in a Wood; Or, St James's Park” is a 1671 comedy play by the English writer William Wycherley. His debut play, it was first staged at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane by the King's Company. The published version of the following year was dedicated to the Duchess of Cleveland, mistress of Charles II. London’s St. James’ Park is known as a midnight meeting place for young lovers. Honorable women wear masks to play coy with the gallant rakes who try to seduce them. William Wycherley’s Love in a Wood, or St. James’ Park is a classic English Restoration comedy of manners. The ladies are clever, the men are foppish, and somehow love and honor prevail.
(4) Love for Love
Love for Love is a Restoration comedy written by British playwright William Congreve. It premiered on 30 April 1695 at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. Staged by Thomas Betterton's company. Valentine has fallen under the displeasure of his father by his extravagance, and is besieged by creditors. His father, Sir Sampson Legend, offers him £4000 (only enough to pay his debts) if he will sign a bond engaging to make over his right to his inheritance to his younger brother Ben. Valentine, to escape from his embarrassment, signs the bond. He is in love with Angelica, who possesses a fortune of her own, but so far she has not yielded to his suit. Sir Sampson has arranged a match between Ben, who is at sea, and Miss Prue, an awkward country girl, the daughter of Foresight, a superstitious old fool who claims to be an astrologer. Valentine, realizing the ruin entailed by the signature of the bond, tries to move his father by submission, and fails; then pretends to be
mad and unable to sign the final deed of conveyance to his brother. Finally Angelica intervenes. She induces Sir Sampson to propose marriage to her, pretends to accept, and gets possession of Valentine's bond. When Valentine, in despair at finding that Angelica is about to marry his father, declares himself ready to sign the conveyance, she reveals the plot, tears up the bond, and declares her love for Valentine.
(5) The Pilgrim's Progress
“The Pilgrims Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come” is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature, as well as one of the progenitors of the narrative aspect of Christian media. It has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print. It appeared in Dutch in 1681, in German in 1703 and in Swedish in 1727. The first North American edition was issued in 1681. It has also been cited as the first novel written in English. According to literary editor Robert McCrum, "there's no book in English, apart from the Bible, to equal Bunyan's masterpiece for the range of its readership, or its influence on writers as diverse as William Thackeray, Charlotte Bronte, Mark Twain, CS Lewis, John Steinbeck and even Enid Blyton." The English text comprises 108,260 words and is divided into two parts, each reading as a continuous narrative with no chapter divisions. The
(6) Battle of Books
"The Battle of the Books" is the name of a short satire written by Jonathan Swift and published as part of the prolegomena to his A Tale of a Tub in 1704. It depicts a literal battle between books in the King's Library (housed in St James's Palace at the time of the writing), as ideas and authors struggle for supremacy. Because of the satire, "The Battle of the Books" has become a term for the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns. It is one of his earliest well-known works. Swift gives the origin of the dispute between the two parties of books in the very beginning in allegorical terms.
(7) Gulivers Travels
“Gulliver's Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships” is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, satirising both human nature and the "travellers' tales" literary subgenre. It is Swift's best known full-length work, and a classic of English literature. Swift claimed that he wrote Gulliver's Travels "to vex the world rather than divert it". The book is divided into four parts.
Part-1 “A Voyage to Lilliput”
Part-2 "A Voyage to Brobdingnag"
Part-3 "A Voyage to Laputa”
Part-4 "A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms"
(8) The Rambler
The Rambler was a periodical by Samuel Johnson. The Rambler was published on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 1750 to 1752 and totals 208 articles. It was Johnson's most consistent and sustained work in the English language. Though similar in name to preceding publications such as The Spectator and The Tatler, Johnson
made his periodical unique by using a style of prose which differed from that of the time period. The most popular publications of the day were written in the common or colloquial language of the people whereas The Rambler was written in elevated prose. As was then common for the type of publication, the subject matter was confined only to the imagination of the author typically, however, The Rambler discussed subjects such as morality, literature, society, politics, and religion. Johnson included quotes and ideas in his publication from Renaissance humanists such as Desiderius Erasmus and René Descartes. His writings in The Rambler are considered to be neoclassical.
(9) The Life of Samuel Johnson
The Life of Samuel Johnson,(1791) by James Boswell is a biography of English writer Dr. Samuel Johnson. The work was from the beginning a critical and popular success, and represents a landmark in the development of the modern genre of biography. It is notable for its extensive reports of Johnson's conversation. Many have claimed it as the greatest biography written in English, but some modern critics object that the work cannot be considered a proper biography. Boswell's personal acquaintance with his subject began in 1763, when Johnson was 54 years old, and Boswell covered the entirety of Johnson's life by means of additional research. The biography takes many critical liberties with Johnson's life, as Boswell makes various changes to Johnson's quotations and even censors many comments. Nonetheless, the book is valued as both an important source of information on Johnson and his times, as well as an important work of literature.
(10) The Vicar of The Wakefield
“The Vicar of Wakefield, subtitled A Tale, Supposed to be written by Himself”, is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith. It was written from 1761 to 1762 and published in 1766. It was one of the most popular and widely read 18th-century novels among Victorians. The book consists of 32 chapters which fall into three parts. In literary history books, The Vicar of Wakefield is often described as a sentimental novel, which displays the belief in the innate goodness of human beings. But it can also be read as a satire on the sentimental novel and its values, as the vicar's values are apparently not compatible with the real "sinful" world.
