The Third and Last Part of Conny-Catching. (1592) E-Book

Robert Greene

• Herausgeber: Booksell-Verlag
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

In "The Third and Last Part of Conny-Catching," Robert Greene presents a riveting exploration of the seedy underbelly of Elizabethan society, focusing on the world of con artists and swindlers. Written in a prose style that intertwines dark humor with biting social commentary, this work serves as both a cautionary tale and an authentic glimpse into the life of a hustler. Greene's mastery of the English vernacular, coupled with his keen observations on human nature, provides readers with an engaging read that reflects the moral complexities of the time, emphasizing themes of deception, survival, and the fluid nature of identity in a rapidly evolving society. Greene, an established playwright and novelist of his era, was intimately familiar with the vibrant yet precarious world of Elizabethan theater and literature. His own experiences of financial struggle and moral ambiguity likely influenced his portrayal of conny-catching, offering an insider's view of the techniques and scams employed by rogues. Greene's literary background, combined with his firsthand knowledge of the darker aspects of urban life, informs the depth and authenticity of his narrative, making it a crucial text for understanding the era. For readers interested in the historical undercurrents of Elizabethan literature, "The Third and Last Part of Conny-Catching" is an essential read. Greene's blend of entertainment and education not only captivates the modern reader but also provides invaluable insight into the complexities of trust, identity, and deception in human interactions. This book will resonate with anyone fascinated by the interplay between art and life, offering a timeless reflection on the nature of cunning and resilience. In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience: - A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes. - The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists. - A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing. - A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings. - Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life. - Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance. - Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.

Leseprobe

Robert Greene

The Third and Last Part of Conny-Catching. (1592)

Enriched edition. With the new deuised knauish arte of Foole-taking

In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience.

Introduction, Studies and Commentaries by Bennett Stanhope

Edited and published by Good Press, 2022

[email protected]

EAN 4064066107758

Table of Contents

Introduction

Synopsis

Historical Context

The Third and Last Part of Conny-Catching. (1592)

Analysis

Reflection

Memorable Quotes

Notes

Introduction

Table of Contents

In The Third and Last Part of Conny-Catching, Robert Greene crystallizes a central tension of urban life in late sixteenth-century London: how trust, the currency that oils everyday exchange among strangers, becomes the very instrument agile deceivers manipulate through staged chance meetings, persuasive talk, and opportunistic spectacle, forcing readers to weigh hospitality against suspicion, sociability against self-protection, and to recognize that the theater of the street—its taverns, markets, and byways—invites performances in which appearance and intention part company, leaving the unwary to discover, too late, how easily confidence can be reshaped into loss.

First issued in 1592, this work forms the concluding installment of Greene’s sequence of conny-catching pamphlets, a branch of Elizabethan rogue literature that catalogues the practices of urban cheats and their victims. Written in plain, vivid prose and grounded in the bustle of London streets, it belongs to a nonfiction tradition that sought to expose criminal artifices for a broad reading public. Its setting is recognizably the city’s common venues—taverns, gaming corners, fairs, and thoroughfares—where money, goods, and reputations circulate swiftly. As a published pamphlet, it participates in the rapidly expanding culture of cheap print that carried topical reportage to citizens and travelers.

Greene’s premise is straightforward and compelling: to teach readers how confidence tricks operate by narrating characteristic encounters and distilling their mechanics into cautionary guidance. The book offers an experience midway between reportage and manual, presenting compact episodes that illustrate methods while preserving a brisk, accessible rhythm. The authorial voice alternates between cool explanation and urgent admonition, always attentive to the cues by which a plausible stranger turns a conversation, a game, or a walk into advantage. Rather than dwell on lurid incident, the prose prefers patterns, showing how routines and rehearsed roles catch the inattentive unawares and how quick suspicion can interrupt a scheme.

Across its pages, several themes accumulate: deception as a learned craft; credulity as a social vulnerability; and the porous boundary between lawful commerce and illicit gain. Greene highlights the performative nature of everyday dealings, where gesture, dress, and controlled talk signal trustworthiness even as they conceal design. The pamphlet also weighs justice and mercy, asking how a community distinguishes misfortune from manipulation and what obligations accompany exposure. By tracing the choreography of approach, persuasion, and exit, it reflects on the economies of attention and reputation that sustain urban life, insisting that ethical discernment begins in careful notice of ordinary detail.

Formally, the text is episodic, arranged as a series of sketches that cluster around recurring settings and tactics, enabling readers to compare variations and learn to recognize them in motion. Greene’s sentences are concise yet pointed, enlivened by the rhythms of speech and the occasional turn of contemporary argot, but anchored by a didactic clarity that privileges function over flourish. He often addresses the reader directly, transforming anecdote into admonition and hint into rule of thumb. A taxonomic impulse runs through the work, classifying stratagems without pedantry, so that its instruction emerges organically from narrative rather than through abstract precept.

As a product of Elizabethan print culture, the pamphlet belongs to a lively marketplace of small books that met curiosity about the city’s unseen transactions with moralized description. It stands alongside earlier and contemporary accounts of vagrants and tricksters, but it is distinctively urban in focus, attentive to the pressures of crowding, mobility, and impersonal exchange. Readers in 1592 would have found in it a timely companion for travel and trade, a portable inventory of risks that also reflected the era’s concern with order and civility. Today, the historical texture it preserves—of custom, venue, and voice—offers a vivid window onto everyday life.

Modern readers will recognize the continuity between the cons Greene records and the confidence games of any age, from street swindles to more mediated forms of social engineering, each exploiting haste, vanity, greed, or misplaced kindness. The book thus functions both as a historical document and as a primer in skeptical attention, encouraging habits of verification, patience, and measured trust. It prompts reflection on why fraud flourishes where strangers must cooperate and on how communities can foster openness without naïveté. As an introduction to the series’ close, it invites engagement with a clear-eyed, brisk, and morally alert voice that still speaks to civic prudence.

Synopsis

Table of Contents

The Third and Last Part of Conny-Catching (1592) concludes Robert Greene’s series of exposés on urban fraud in Elizabethan England. The pamphlet assembles accounts of deceits practiced by swindlers, thieves, and their confederates, presented as a public service to citizens and magistrates. Greene organizes the material by the offenders’ trades and methods, moving from general description to particular instances, and ending with cautions and remedies. He frames his reporting as drawn from confessions and observation, aiming at plain disclosure rather than ornament. The sequence builds a comprehensive picture of how victims are identified, approached, and despoiled, emphasizing patterns that recur across taverns, streets, and country roads.

Early sections sketch the fraternity that sustains cony-catchers: loose companies who meet in alehouses, share intelligence, and divide profits by customary shares. The pamphlet notes their watchwords, scouts, and lookouts, and the role of handlers who receive and move stolen goods. A brief survey of canting terms clarifies the jargon by which members recognize one another and mask intent before outsiders. Greene also touches on informal rules, punishments for breach of secrecy, and the reliance on tavern keepers, brokers, and other go-betweens. This framework situates the specific tricks that follow within an organized, adaptive network rather than isolated acts.