Representative Plays

Boker, George H. (George Henry), 1823-1890Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 217K words
Chapters: 22

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.Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911: Francesca da RiminiAuthor: Boker, George H. (George Henry), 1823-1890,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jul 23, 2004

Editor's review

This volume contains the representative play Francesca da Rimini by the American playwright George Henry Boker, an important text of nineteenth-century American verse drama. The play draws on the tragic story of Francesca and Paolo from Dante's Inferno; Boker retells this tale of love and sin in verse drama, with careful prosody and intense emotion, reflecting the way American literary drama of the period borrowed from and transformed European literary traditions. As a public-domain ebook from Project Gutenberg, it gives scholars and theater enthusiasts easy access to the original text. Its value lies in showing the character of nineteenth-century American verse drama and how American writers reworked classic European motifs. Readers may compare it with Dante's original to observe Boker's additions and deletions in plotting and psychological portrayal. For readers interested in American drama history, the verse drama form, or adaptation studies, this is a primary text worth close reading; those seeking modern plays with strong stage effect may find its pace slow.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and students studying nineteenth-century American drama and the verse drama form
Readers interested in the adaptation and reception history of Dante's Divine Comedy
Literary enthusiasts who enjoy verse drama and are willing to read metrical texts closely

Not a good fit for

Contemporary theater readers who prefer fast-paced plots and strong stage conflict
Beginners with little patience for verse language and classical allusion

Reading tips

First learn the outline of the Francesca story in Dante's Divine Comedy, then read the play to appreciate the adaptation
Read some verse lines aloud to feel the meter and rhythm of Boker's verse drama
Compare with the relevant cantos of Dante's original and note Boker's changes in plot and characterization
Consult histories of nineteenth-century American drama to understand the play's place in the literary world of its time

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

What is the relationship between this play and Dante's Divine Comedy?

The play draws on the tragic love story of Francesca and Paolo in Dante's Inferno. Boker reworks this story in verse drama, making it an adaptation of a classic European literary motif; reading it alongside Dante's original is more rewarding.

Is this a complete play or an excerpt?

This is a public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg, containing Boker's representative play Francesca da Rimini in its complete text, suitable for reading and research.

Can I understand it without a background in drama studies?

Yes, but it takes some patience. This is a verse drama with careful prosody, and its plot moves less briskly than modern stage plays. It is advisable to learn the outline of the story and the background of Dante's original before entering the text; the reading experience will then be much smoother.

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About the author

Boker, George H. (George Henry), 1823-1890 Author · American · 1823–1890

George H. Boker (1823–1890) was an American poet, playwright, and diplomat. Born into a culturally cultivated family, he developed an early interest in literature and later devoted himself to both poetry and drama. His representative work, the verse drama Francesca da Rimini, draws on Italian history and legend, unfolding the conflicts of its characters through verse dialogue. Its language is carefully rhythmical, and its emotional expression is restrained yet powerful, reflecting the path taken by nineteenth-century American writers who turned to European subjects for verse drama. Representative Plays, included in the library, offers a view of his basic approach to dramatic structure, character portrayal, and verse rhythm. Beyond writing, he also engaged in diplomatic work. Overall, he holds a place in the nineteenth-century American verse drama tradition, but public information is limited, and details of his life and the circulation of his works await further verification.