An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, Volume 1

Colley CibberProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.1
Word count
709K words
Chapters
71

Tags

English Originals General Biography Legendary LivesLiterary GiantsGroup BiographyComplex HumanityDocumentary NarrativeSocial Observation

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, Volume 1 (of 2) by Colley CibberAuthor: Cibber, Colley, 1671-1757,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 29, 2013

Editor's review

An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, Volume 1 is the opening part of this 18th-century English dramatist's autobiography, in which the author reviews his early years and the beginnings of his stage career from a first-hand perspective, making it an important primary text for understanding Augustan-era drama and literary life in England. As a Project Gutenberg public-domain ebook, it is freely available, convenient for researchers and enthusiasts to consult at any time. Its value lies not in modern-style flowing narrative but in its documentary quality and the original presentation of period language. Readers can sense the rhetorical style of 18th-century English and the way men of letters wrote self-accounts. Reading it together with Volume 2 is recommended for a complete picture. Because it is the original English edition with many period expressions, it is not suitable as an introductory English reader, but is better suited to readers with some English proficiency and an interest in English literary history who are willing to read slowly and carefully.

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Reading tips

  1. Start with the introduction or related background material to establish a basic framework of the author and his era.
  2. Proceed chapter by chapter, noting unfamiliar names and plays for later verification.
  3. Read continuously with Volume 2 to avoid losing the thread if you set it aside midway.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71

FAQ

What is the difference between Volume 1 and Volume 2? Volume 1 is the opening of the autobiography, mainly laying out the author's early years and the beginnings of his stage career; Volume 2 continues from there with later experiences and related matters. Together they form the complete autobiography, and reading them in order is recommended to grasp the overall thread.
Is this book suitable for English beginners? Not really. The text is 18th-century English, with sentence structures and vocabulary at a distance from modern English, and it involves names and terms from the theater world of the time. The threshold for English beginners is relatively high; it is better suited to readers with some English reading ability who are willing to look up background information.
As a public-domain ebook, what should readers pay attention to? Public-domain ebooks are easy to obtain but usually lack modern editorial notes or translations. Readers should have reference works or background materials at hand and verify the names, plays, and events in the book, avoiding treating the author's account as completely objective historical fact.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Colley Cibber Author · English · 1671–1757

Colley Cibber (1671–1757) was an English actor, theatre manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. Born in London, he took to the stage in 1690 and became known for playing fops in Restoration comedy. His play Love's Last Shift is regarded as the first sentimental comedy. Appointed Poet Laureate in 1730, he became the hero of Pope's Dunciad through their literary quarrel. The library holds three of his works: the two-volume An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber and A Letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope. The Apology recounts his stage career and theatre management from a first-hand perspective, with a defensive and self-deprecating tone, and is an important source for the history of English theatre in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the letter to Pope directly conveys the tone of their dispute.