Jones, Henry Arthur

Related Category: English Literature, 19th cent.: Biographies

1851–1929, English playwright. His reputation was first established with the melodrama The Silver King (with Henry Herman; 1882). Strongly influenced by the great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, Jones turned to writing dramas of social and moral criticism. He was the author of over 60 plays, of which The Middleman (1889), Michael and His Lost Angel (1896), The Liars (1897), and Mrs. Dane's Defense (1900) are among the most important. His critical works include The Renascence of the English Drama (1895) and The Theatre of Ideas (1915).