{"product_id":"john-gay","title":"John Gay","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1995, David Nokes' major biography of John Gay (1685-1732) was the first full-length life of Gay for over fifty years, and drew on hitherto unpublished letters. Presenting Gay as a complex character, torn between the hopes of court preferment and the assertion of literary independence, Nokes offers both a lively and accessible read for the non-specialist and a comprehensive scholarly study. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBest-known for \u003ci\u003eThe Beggar's Opera,\u003c\/i\u003e Gay is here revealed as a contradictory figure. Nokes argues that Gay's self-effacing and self-mocking literary persona was largely responsible for perpetuating an image of himself as a genial literary non-entity. Often cast as a neglected genius, dependent on others, he in fact left a considerable fortune after his death. Depicted by his friends as both a childlike innocent and a rakish ladies' man, he produced the most successful and subversive theatrical satire of his generation, and volumes of bestselling \u003ci\u003eFables\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Faber \u0026 Faber","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54252110545240,"sku":"9780571320080","price":25.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780571320080_bcbe4225-7bca-449f-86c3-dd17b0f86ffc.jpg?v=1765950341","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/john-gay","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}