1,721,071 research outputs found
They are all fossils: A Paleontology of Early Modern Drama
No full textIn this essay I want to defamiliarize the metaphor of mortality and preservation by exploring an analogy in which all textual traces of early modern drama, both playscripts and other forms of record, are in effect fossils of dead originals. I will argue that the language and conventions of palaeontology can be helpful when thinking both about the lost and the extant drama from this period. In particular, that discipline provides a vocabulary for imagining the extent to which even plays conventionally regarded as extant are preserved only in partial and contingent records. Palaeontology offers a way to address the methodological problems implicit in interpreting a whole early modern “media ecosystem” — as one might say — from its scattered surviving fossils
The image of human condition: Sidney’s Arcadia and the Conflicts of Virtue
No full textI read Sidney’s romance, the New Arcadia, in the light of a particular ethos known as Philippism after the followers of Philip Melanchthon, the Protestant theologian. In doing so, I use a critical paradigm previously only used to discuss Sidney’s Defence of Poesy. Thus, building on the work of Robert E. Stillman, I narrow the gap that critics, such as Gavin Alexander, have often found between Sidney’s theory and literary practice.
Like the Philippists, peculiarly open to the ideas of humanist scholarship, Sidney draws his philosophical precepts from an eclectic mix of sources. These various strands of philosophical, political and theological thought are accommodated within the New Arcadia, which conforms to the kind of literature praised by Melanchthon for its life-like heterogeneity and its examples of virtue. Sidney’s characters have generally been thought to symbolize a passive form of Christian Stoicism. I contend that they, in fact, respond to their misfortunes in a way that demonstrates an active outlook. Employing the same philosophy, Sidney, both in his letter intervening in Queen Elizabeth’s marriage negotiations and in his politically-interested fiction, arrogates to himself the role of court counsellor. As such, he is a model for his sister and Fulke Greville in their later roles as literary patron and courtier, respectively. The primary inheritor of Sidney’s political and cultural legacy, Robert Devereux, despite being associated with court factionalism, also draws, I argue, on the optimistic and conciliatory philosophy signified by Sidney’s New Arcadia.
Sidney’s romance affirms its author’s piety, in which human fallibility is recognized and tolerated. Amphialus represents Sidney’s ethos most poignantly. An epic, martial figure, Amphialus also participates in the most dishonourable activities in the romance. Through the representation of this apparently irredeemable character, who, nevertheless, will be saved, Sidney displays his faith in God’s Providence and his own salvation
Lost plays in Shakespeare's England
No full textLost plays are a source of significant information on playwrights, playing companies, audiences, and venues in Shakespeare's England. They include plays by Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson, and other canonical playwrights in addition to anonymous plays and the writings of lesser known writers. Details preserved depend upon the record, but may include title, date, authorship, company affiliation, plot, and even details of performance. This edited collection examines assumptions about what a lost play is and how it can be talked about; how lost plays can be reconstructed, particularly when they use narratives already familiar to playgoers; and how lost plays can force us to reassess extant plays, particularly through ideas of repertory studies. Lost plays, it argues, improve our knowledge of playwrights' and playing companies' overall dramatic output
The image of human condition: Sidney's Arcadia and the conflicts of virtue.
Full text linkI read Sidney's romance, the New Arcadia, in the light of a particular ethos known as Philippism after the followers of Philip Melanchthon, the Protestant theologian. In doing so, I use a critical paradigm previously only used to discuss Sidney's Defence of Poesy. Thus, building on the work of Robert E. Stillman, I narrow the gap that critics, such as Gavin Alexander, have often found between Sidney's theory and literary practice.Like the Philippists, peculiarly open to the ideas of humanist scholarship, Sidney draws his philosophical precepts from an eclectic mix of sources. These various strands of philosophical, political and theological thought are accommodated within the New Arcadia, which conforms to the kind of literature praised by Melanchthon for its lifelike heterogeneity and its examples of virtue. Sidney's characters have generally been thought to symbolize a passive form of Christian Stoicism. I contend that they, in fact, respond to their misfortunes in a way that demonstrates an active outlook. Employing the same philosophy, Sidney, both in his letter intervening in Queen Elizabeth's marriage negotiations and in his politically-interested fiction, arrogates to himself the role of court counsellor. As such, he is a model for his sister and Fulke Greville in their later roles as literary patron and courtier, respectively. The primary inheritor of Sidney's political and cultural legacy, Robert Devereux, despite being associated with court factionalism, also draws, I argue, on the optimistic and conciliatory philosophy signified by Sidney's New Arcadia.Sidney's romance affirms its author's piety, in which human fallibility is recognized and tolerated. Amphialus represents Sidney's ethos most poignantly. An epic, martial figure, Amphialus also participates in the most dishonourable activities in the romance. Through the representation of this apparently irredeemable character, who, nevertheless, will be saved, Sidney displays his faith in God's Providence and his own salvation
William Cavendish: Amateur Professional Playwright
No full textThis chapter focusses on William Cavendish and dramatic writing, a field in which he participated both as patron and as author. Cavendish is perhaps best known as a patron of Restoration professional commercial drama, and secondarily for the family drama associated with his circle, performed outside London, generally by amateurs, and with the involvement of family members including Jane Cavendish and Elizabeth Brackley. And yet, before the Civil War, Cavendish had already built for himself an extraordinary position within English commercial drama. During the period up to 1642 he acted as patron, one way or another, to almost all the leading Caroline professional playwrights, as well as himself being involved in the writing of at least three comedies, two of which clearly achieved a measure of commercial success. This chapter asks: what was Cavendish attempting to do in this continuing early engagement with professional drama? And how did it connect with his wider political and cultural aspirations
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