 First edition | |
| Author | Barry Unsworth |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Hamish Hamilton |
Publication date | 1995 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Pages | 188 |
| ISBN | 0-241-13341-6 |
Morality Play is a semi-historical detective novel by Barry Unsworth. The book, published in 1995 by Hamish Hamilton was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. [1]
The book is set in Medieval England sometime near the end of the 14th century and the events described in the book take place in an unnamed village in Northern England (north of the Humber). A priest fleeing from his diocese joins a group of travelling players. The players are travelling toward their liege lord's castle where they are expected to play at Christmas but, short of money, they decide to stage their plays at a village en route. When a morality play from their usual repertoire fails to earn them enough money, Martin, the leader of the group convinces them to stage 'the play of Thomas Wells', a play based on the story of the murder of a young boy from the village. [2] The murderer has already been found, a young woman from the village, and the play seems simple enough, however they soon find that the facts don't fit. The line between the play and reality blurs and, line-by-line, they arrive at the truth about the murder.
The novel is unique in its portrayal of medieval English drama and mystery plays, as it implies that instead of merely rehearsing and performing standard Biblically-based morality plays of the period, that an acting troupe might actually create and structure a play around events in their village, community or surrounding culture. [3] The existence of such culturally-connected playcraft is important to scholars of the period, as it implies that works such as the N-Town Plays may have a provenance beyond simple Biblical literalness, and may speak to the concerns of the culture at that period, much as later drama of the Elizabethan period spoke directly to cultural concerns.
The novel was adapted for the screen in 2004, as The Reckoning , directed by Paul McGuigan and starring Paul Bettany and Willem Dafoe.
The morality play is a genre of medieval and early Tudor drama. The term is used by scholars of literary and dramatic history to refer to a genre of play texts from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries that feature personified concepts alongside angels and demons, who are engaged in a struggle to persuade a protagonist who represents a generic human character toward either good or evil. The common story arc of these plays follows "the temptation, fall and redemption of the protagonist".
British literature is from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. This article covers British literature in the English language. Anglo-Saxon literature is included, and there is some discussion of Latin and Anglo-Norman literature, where literature in these languages relate to the early development of the English language and literature. There is also some brief discussion of major figures who wrote in Scots, but the main discussion is in the various Scottish literature articles.
Louis de Bernières is an English novelist. He is known for his 1994 historical war novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin. In 1993 de Bernières was selected as one of the "20 Best of Young British Novelists", part of a promotion in Granta magazine. Captain Corelli's Mandolin was published in the following year, winning the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book. It was also shortlisted for the 1994 Sunday Express Book of the Year. It has been translated into over 11 languages and is an international best-seller.
Barry Unsworth FRSL was an English writer known for his historical fiction. He published 17 novels, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times, winning once for the 1992 novel Sacred Hunger.
Nigerian literature may be roughly defined as the literary writing by citizens of the nation of Nigeria for Nigerian readers, addressing Nigerian issues. This encompasses writers in a number of languages, including not only English but Igbo, Urhobo, Yoruba, and in the northern part of the county Hausa and Nupe. More broadly, it includes British Nigerians, Nigerian Americans and other members of the African diaspora.
Pigeon English is the debut novel by English author Stephen Kelman. It is told from the point of view of Harrison Opoku, an eleven-year-old Ghanaian immigrant living on a tough London estate. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2011.
Roger Jon Ellory is an English thriller writer.
The Reckoning, also known as Morality Play, is a 2004 British-Spanish murder mystery drama film directed by Paul McGuigan and starring Paul Bettany, Willem Dafoe, Tom Hardy, Gina McKee, Brian Cox and Vincent Cassel. It was written by Mark Mills and based on the 1995 novel Morality Play by Barry Unsworth. Filming was done on location in Spain, Wales, and England.
Ghosts is a 1993 novel by John Banville. It was his first novel since 1989's The Book of Evidence, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The second in what Banville described as a "triptych", to make "an investigation of the way in which the imagination works." This novel features many of the same characters and relates to events of the previous novel.
Peter J. James is a British writer of crime. He was born in Brighton, the son of Cornelia James, the former glovemaker to Queen Elizabeth II.
Clara Callan is a novel by Canadian writer Richard B. Wright, published in 2001. It is the story of a woman in her thirties living in Ontario during the 1930s and is written in epistolary form, utilizing letters and journal entries to tell the story. The protagonist, Clara, faces the struggles of being a single woman in a rural community in the early 20th century. The novel won the Governor General's Award in the English fiction category, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and the Trillium Book Award.
The Bishop's Man is a novel by Canadian writer Linden MacIntyre, published in August 2009. The story follows a Roman Catholic priest and former fixer for the Diocese of Antigonish named Fr. Duncan MacAskill. After years of quietly resolving potential scandals involving the misdeeds of Diocesan priests, Fr. MacAskill has been assigned by his Bishop to a remote parish on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia and ordered to maintain a low profile. MacIntyre, a native of Cape Breton, released the novel amidst the ongoing sexual abuse scandal in Antigonish diocese in Nova Scotia. The book was awarded the 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Canadian Booksellers Association's Fiction Book of the Year. Critics gave positive reviews, especially noting MacIntyre's complex and successful character development.
Esi Edugyan is a Canadian novelist. She has twice won the Giller Prize, for her novels Half-Blood Blues (2011) and Washington Black (2018).
The 2012 Booker Prize for Fiction was awarded on 16 October 2012. A longlist of twelve titles was announced on 25 July, and these were narrowed down to a shortlist of six titles, announced on 11 September. The jury was chaired by Sir Peter Stothard, editor of the Times Literary Supplement, accompanied by literary critics Dinah Birch and Bharat Tandon, historian and biographer Amanda Foreman, and Dan Stevens, actor of Downton Abbey fame with a background English Literature studies. The jury was faced with the controversy of the 2011 jury, whose approach had been seen as overly populist. Whether or not as a response to this, the 2012 jury strongly emphasised the value of literary quality and linguistic innovation as criteria for inclusion.
Emma Jane Unsworth is a British writer from Bury, Greater Manchester. She writes short stories and has had three novels published; Hungry, the Stars and Everything, Animals and Adults.
In the Shadow of Midnight is a 1994 historical novel by Canadian author Marsha Canham, the second instalment of her "Medieval" trilogy inspired by the Robin Hood legend set in 13th-century England. The story centres on the rescue of Princess Eleanor of Brittany, the rightful heiress to the English throne, who is held captive by her uncle King John. The novel was published by Dell Publishing in 1994 as a sequel to Canham's 1991 story, Through a Dark Mist.
The Bunker Diary is a 2013 young adult novel by Kevin Brooks. The Bunker Diary features the story of Linus Weems, a teenager who is captured and imprisoned in a mysterious bunker.
Jane Harper is a British–Australian author known for her crime novels The Dry, Force of Nature and The Lost Man, all set in rural Australia.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is a 2009 mystery novel by Olga Tokarczuk. Originally published in Polish by Wydawnictwo Literackie, it was later translated to English by Antonia Lloyd-Jones and published in 2018 by the British independent publisher Fitzcarraldo Editions. The book received a wider release in 2019 when it was published in the United States by Riverhead Books on 13 August 2019. A portion of the English translation was originally published in literary magazine Granta in 2017.
The Leper's Companions is a novel by British author Julia Blackburn, published in 1999 by Pantheon Books. The narrative follows a grieving woman who escapes from the present by telling the story of a Medieval English village. The book was shortlisted for the 1999 Women's Prize for Fiction.