The Problem in the Middle: Liminal Space and the Court Masque

Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones enjoyed one of the most successful theatrical collaborations of Renaissance England with their spectacular court masques. But their relationship soured over a dispute as to what was most important in the masque: the poetry of the former or the set and costume design of the latter. Wilson argues that the masque is in a perpetual state of liminality, existing in the margin between performance and an observing audience. The masque is more than historically interesting; it negotiates the space between possibility and reality. This book searches for that intervening ground and the resolution of the “problem in the middle.”

Gregory A. Wilson is a professor of English at St. John's University in New York City.