Comedies

Holberg, Ludvig, 1684-1754Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 263K words
Chapters: 27

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.Comedies by Holberg : Jeppe of the Hill, The Political Tinker, Erasmus MontanusAuthor: Holberg, Ludvig, 1684-1754,Language: English, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: May 1, 2004

Editor's review

This Project Gutenberg eBook collects three representative comedies by the Danish playwright Ludvig Holberg: Jeppe of the Hill, The Political Tinker, and Erasmus Montanus. Holberg excels at satirizing the vanity, stubbornness, and self-deception of ordinary townsfolk; his touch is brisk, his plots turn on misunderstanding and mistaken identity, and the result often reads as absurd. What the three plays share is a spotlight on ordinary people's desires and respectability, letting readers see the comic side of human nature through laughter. As a public-domain eBook, it is easy to open anytime on an e-reader and suits readers interested in classical European comedy, Enlightenment-era drama, or Nordic literature as an introduction and for further reading. While reading, watch for irony in the dialogue and characters' self-praise; dramatic conflict tends to build layer by layer through conversation. Because these are plays, readers should grow accustomed to stage directions and dialogue structure rather than continuous narrative.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in classical European comedy and satirical drama
Students studying Enlightenment-era Nordic literature and drama
Teachers who need public-domain electronic texts for play excerpts
Readers who enjoy seeing character through dialogue

Not a good fit for

Novel readers who prefer continuous plots and detailed descriptions of scenery
Those unaccustomed to reading play formats and stage directions
Beginners hoping for detailed annotations and scholarly introductions

Reading tips

Start with Jeppe of the Hill, which is shorter and helps you get used to Holberg's satirical rhythm.
Treat each act as a self-contained scene and watch the gap between characters' self-praise and the facts.
Read the dialogue aloud to catch the irony and comic pauses in the lines.
After finishing, compare the shared themes of the three plays and note the different ways the characters deceive themselves.

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.

FAQ

Which comedies are collected in this book?

According to the source, it contains three works—Jeppe of the Hill, The Political Tinker, and Erasmus Montanus—all representative comedies by Holberg.

Can I understand it without experience reading drama?

Yes. The plays move mainly through dialogue, and the scenes are relatively concentrated. It is best to start with one of the shorter works, get used to the format of stage directions and character dialogue, and then read the other two.

What are the language and edition details of this eBook?

The source lists the language as English, published by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain electronic text. Readers can read it on electronic devices, but the edition itself contains no detailed scholarly annotations.

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About the author

Holberg, Ludvig, 1684-1754 Author

Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754) is a representative writer of the Nordic Enlightenment, though public information available here about his nationality, life, and education is limited. Sixteen of his works are held in this collection, chiefly comedies and satirical travel narratives. His representative work Jeppe on the Hill creates a peasant who, transformed and given noble status, comes to see the absurdity of society; Niels Klim's Journey Under the Ground uses the framework of an imaginary voyage to criticize social institutions and human habits. His plays often use colloquial dialogue and exaggerated plots to produce laughter, with satire aimed at hierarchical prejudice and self-importance. These works are regarded in Nordic literature as an important source of the comic tradition and satirical prose, and have had some influence on later drama and fantasy literature.