Restoration Comedy »

David Womersley has been a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Jesus College, Oxford since 1984.

Duncan Wu is a Fellow of St Catherine's College, Oxford, and University Lecturer in English Literature.

The two plays presented in full in this volume – Wycherley's The Country Wife and Congreve's The Way of the World – illustrate the evolution of Restoration comedy between 1675 and 1700.

• Includes full texts of Wycherley's The Country Wife and Congreve's The Way of the World.


• Demonstrates how Restoration comedy evolved between 1675 and 1700.


• Introduces general readers or students to the genre.


• An editorial introduction guides readers through the plays and the period.