Wikipedia:Peer review/The Way of the World/archive1

The Way of the World

Considered one of the most important restoration comedies, but nobody has done any work on it other than me. I'd appreciate some suggestions. Robinoke 20:50, 17 Apr 2005 (UTC)

There are some apparently incorrect spellings in the introduction: sparodicly & renound. Or are these the Queen's English versions? The page could use a category or two. Try using the gutenberg template for the link to the PG e-text. There are some interesting points mentioned on the Daily Info review. — RJH 16:31, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Try and turn the character list into a paragraph describing the characters--nixie 08:26, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

What nixie said, it's a bit boring to start with a list. How about starting with a short background section? The "Historical influence" section has some material for that, but it should come higher up, IMO. The article Restoration comedy has a section on the comedy in the 1690s that might be useful, and some material specifically on the Lincoln's Inn Fields' company and actors. If you'd like to do a section on the original cast, there are, ahem, pretty up-to-date and reliable articles on Mirabell and Millamant, John Verbruggen and Anne Bracegirdle (in fact I created the Verbruggen article only yesterday). That's a little recondite and not at all a requirement, but it can be a cool way of adding concrete detail and color, something articles on literary works can often do with. A section on the play's stage history from 1700 would be good, you could cannibalize any modern edition of the play for the lowdown there. A section on the play's critical reputation, also from 1700 on? And, well, I'm trying not to say this, since I wrote it myself, but you could see a few further possible angles if you take a look at recently featured article The Country Wife. I'm delighted to see somebody taking on The Way of the World! --Bishonen | talk 08:50, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the input guys. I've tried to implement some of the suggestions and will tackle some of the larger things Bishonen recommended when I get some time. Robinoke 22:22, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I'm coming to the party late, as I just saw that the article exists, but I'm pretty much of a context man, myself, and one of the things I'd like to see much more of is a context of Congreve's career and, if you can find it, the history of the writing. Congreve was notorious for being a slow writer, and Way of the World, arguably the perfect Restoration Comedy, didn't premiere until after Restoration Comedy was over. (I've always regarded Way of the World as being like Aristotle's Poetics: it can be the perfect play because it is written after the fact and has learned the rules others established.) I know that you're not writing the William Congreve article, but placing this work in his life helps somewhat. Also, by all means, kill the spoiler template. I know there are people who insert it everywhere as a meaningful edit, but folks ought not be reading Wikipedia to learn the plot or worrying that they won't enjoy the play for knowing the plot. This isn't a detective story, and a plot summary only helps folks enjoy the humor by allowing them to duck some of the confusion audiences usually have. Geogre 19:17, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

I've changed the heading from "Historical influence" to "Historical context," and I've contextualized the play with other Restoration comedies. In particular, I try to explicate the tensions between City and Court and how they reversed between 1670 and 1700 with the change from Charles II to William III. However, I would very much like to know where the idea of Fainall as old rake and Millamant as new comes from. It may be the case, although I've never read the play that way, but I think that's a singular enough interpretive point to need a reference. Geogre 02:26, 2 May 2005 (UTC)