{"product_id":"economies-of-early-modern-drama-anne-enderwitz-9780192866813","title":"Economies of Early Modern Drama: Shakespeare, Jonson, and Middleton","description":"This book provides new insights into how theatre responded to changing economic practices and structures. It reviews discourses on household management and commerce to create a rich context for the discussion of socio-economic actions and transactions in \u003cem\u003eMacbeth, Othello\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eTimon of Athens\u003c\/em\u003e, as well as in city comedies by Ben Jonson and Thomas Middleton. By approaching discourses on economy and commerce as complementary, the book opens up a diverse field of socio-economic practices, including the gendered division of duties in the household, new modes of valuation, and evolving credit instruments. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTheatre provides unique access to this field. In contrast to practical and policy-oriented discourses, it addresses socio-economic change and its vicissitudes in a spirit of experimentation, testing the ethical limits of socio-economic action and accustoming audiences to the demands of a changing socio-economic reality. Theatre thus offers a vital contribution to the prehistory of political economy. On the London stages, self-interest emerges as a key motive of socio-economic action, and theatre playfully explores its ambiguous status as a partly rational and partly excessive force that has a new ordering function but also creates social conflict. At the same time, by staging the contradictory demands of ethics and efficiency in economic decision-making, early modern plays offer access to a changing understanding of prudence that has a Machiavellian touch: by aligning with the pursuit of private interest, prudence sheds some of its ethical content and becomes foremost an instrumental faculty.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Anne Enderwitz\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0192866818\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780192866813\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/17\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.25lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.80h x 6.40w x 1.30d","brand":"Anne Enderwitz","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44860665135359,"sku":"9780192866813","price":100.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_b1271314-b3f6-4871-99d3-02a914b293fd.jpg?v=1709136583","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/economies-of-early-modern-drama-anne-enderwitz-9780192866813","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}