The Contrast

Tyler, Royall, 1757-1826Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 124K words
Chapters: 13

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.The Contrast by Royall TylerAuthor: Tyler, Royall, 1757-1826,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 1, 1996

Editor's review

The Contrast is an early American comedy by Royall Tyler and a landmark in American theater history—the first comedy written by a native American author and performed in a professional American theater. Set against the social manners of the post-Revolutionary era, the play uses contrasting characters to satirize the tension between Anglophilia and native republican values, creating character types that became representative of the early American stage. The language carries the elegance and wit of late-eighteenth-century English, making it suitable for readers interested in the origins of American literature, early American social culture, and theater history. As a public-domain e-book, it is brief enough to be read alongside social histories of the early republic, helping readers understand how the new nation positioned its cultural identity. Readers should approach it as a historical text rather than a modern comedy, attending to the targets of its satire and its moral stance within its period context.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and students of early American drama and literary origins
Readers interested in the social culture of the post-Revolutionary United States
Theater enthusiasts curious about the roots of the native American comic tradition
Self-directed learners of history and literature with strong English reading skills

Not a good fit for

General readers expecting modern comic humor
Readers with limited English proficiency who would struggle with eighteenth-century English
Researchers seeking detailed annotations and a scholarly introduction

Reading tips

Familiarize yourself with the social background of the early republic to better grasp the targets of the satire
Compare the play with contemporary English comedies to appreciate the self-consciousness of native American theater
Note the contrast between characters' names and personalities—it is key to understanding the play's structure
Read it scene by scene if time allows, then return to the prologue and ending for their moral declarations

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 special place does this book hold in English literature?

It is generally regarded as one of the earliest comedies written by a native American author and performed in a professional theater, marking a pioneering moment in American drama. It signaled that American theater was beginning to move away from reliance on British works and to take up native characters and native social issues.

How difficult is the English? Is it suitable for non-native readers?

The work uses late-eighteenth-century English, with sentence structures and vocabulary that differ from modern usage, along with period-specific social terms. Non-native readers should have strong English reading skills and supplementary historical background, or they may miss the satirical intent.

What background knowledge should readers prepare beforehand?

It helps to know about the social climate after the American Revolution, the conflict between aristocratic tastes and republican values, and the American theater's reliance on British works at the time. With this background, the character contrasts and moral stance become clearer.

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About the author

Tyler, Royall, 1757-1826 Author · American · 1757–1826

Royall Tyler (1757–1826) was an American playwright and judge. His comedy The Contrast is often regarded as the beginning of native American drama and holds landmark significance in the early history of the American stage. Public information about his life is limited, and the library holds only two of his works, both related to The Contrast. Based on the available material, Tyler's writing was rooted in the social soil of the post-Revolutionary United States, presenting native life and characters in comic form, with witty language and brisk plots that portray the manners and sense of identity in the emerging American society. His dual role as judge and playwright also gave his writing an attention to order and conduct. The Contrast is repeatedly cited precisely because it was the first to give the American stage a voice of its own, offering a starting point for the later development of American drama.