DOCSLIB.ORG

Early Evaluation of the Novel: Periodical Reviews of Mid-Eighteenth-Century London" (1976)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Early Evaluation of the Novel: Periodical Reviews of Mid-Eighteenth-Century London Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1976 Early Evaluation of the Novel: Periodical Reviews of Mid- Eighteenth-Century London Karen Jo Ann Koenigs Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Koenigs, Karen Jo Ann, "Early Evaluation of the Novel: Periodical Reviews of Mid-Eighteenth-Century London" (1976). Dissertations. 1560. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/1560 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1976 Karen Jo Ann Koenigs EARLY EVALUATION OF THE NOVEL: PERIODICAL REVIEWS OF MID-EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LONDON by Karen Jo Ann Koenigs A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Loyola University of Chicago In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 1975 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There is too little space here to name the many people who helped me in this undertaking, but the list begins with my friends among the Dominican Sisters of Edmonds, Washington. In particular, I thank Sister Kathleen Logan for her patient assurance and Sister Corinne Epps whose typing skills and generous moral support brought me through the final labor. I am deeply indebted to my director, Dr. Douglas White, for his candid criticisms and remarkable understand­ ing; to Dr. Eileen Baldeshwiler and Dr. John Shea for their helpful corrnnents, and to the late Rev. Carl J. Stratman whose attention to the details of research was inspirational. Particular acknowledgment should be given to The Newberry Library, Chicago, for both the excellent periodical holdings and the friendly atmosphere for scholarship the staff and readers supply. Finally, I dedicate this piece to my parents, Eva and Clete Koenigs, who have never doubted in me. ii VITA Karen Jo Ann Koenigs was born in Pasco, Washington on November 6, 1936. She completed her elementary and secondary education in Seattle parochial schools, graduating from Holy Angels High School in June, 1954. In September, 1954, she entered the religious order of the Dominican Sisters, Congregation of the Holy Cross, now in Edmonds, Washington, with whom she began her college studies under the auspices of Seattle University. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Holy Names College, Spokane, in July, 1960 and did graduate work in speech and hearing therapy at the University of Washington, Seattle, while she taught in elementary and secondary schools in Washington State. She began her graduate studies in literature at Loyola University in September, 1964, as an NDEA Fellow in Literary Criticism. In September, 1968, she was awarded an Arthur J. Schmitt Doctoral Scholarship to continue her studies. Ms. Koenigs has been teaching at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, since September, 1969. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii VITA iii INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter I. THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, 1740 TO 1767 . 6 II. THE LONDON MAGAZINE: 1740 TO 1767 . 69 III. THE MONTHLY REVIEW: 1749 TO 1767 115 IV. THE CRITICAL' REVIEW: 1756 TO 1767 . 185 CONCLUSION 254 BIBLIOGRAPHY 261 APPENDICES 269 A. References to Novels in the Magazines between 1740 and 1767 . 270 B. Number of Novels and Plays Treated by the Reviews per Year . 277 c. First Appearances of Evaluative Words Expressing Emotion . 281 iv INTRODUCTION The primary objective of this study is to determine the concept or concepts of the novel held by the reviewers in London periodicals between 1740 and 1767. I will describe their notions about the nature and function of the novel, the evolving standards by which they judged it, and their techniques for dealing with the novel as an indepen­ dent genre. Since few of these critical definitions are explicitly stated in the periodicals, the standards for judgment and understanding must be synthesized from scat- tered remarks on particular novels. As a useful comparison, I have also screened the reviews of drama, in the same selected periodicals, in order to determine the basis for critical evaluations applied to a literary form with a long history. The co!Tl,non terminology and similar approaches in these contemporary reviews of both novels and plays cannot be ignored, and it was part of the original thesis of this study that early criticism of the novel was directly influenced by the standards used for judging drama. However, this hypothesis had to be modified, and comperison of later reviewers' opinions of the drama and the novel shows the process by which the concept of the novel 1 2 and the critical modes of approaching the genre differen­ tiated from the principles associated with the drama. Existing scholarship concerning the early reception of the novel in periodical reviews usually stresses the role of criticism in shaping the novel. In The History, from 1 1700 to 1800, of English Criticism of Prose Fiction, Joseph G. Heidler drew from many sources "to show the effect of the growth of criticism of the novel upon its structure and technique" (p. 15). Only a very small portion of this ambitious undertaking was drawn from periodical literature. Robert D. Mayo 2 concentrated on British periodicals to investigate the kinds of fiction they contain and the atti­ tudes towards this fiction. Besides the larger time period, his study differs from mine because his material is chiefly the fiction found in magazines and not the reviews. Edmund P. Dandridge3 studied the criticism in periodicals between 1700 and 1752 to assess the contribution of the periodical critics to the development and acceptance of literary criticism by the general reading public. His focus is on criticism as a genre and not on the development of the novel. luniversity . of Illinois Studies in Language and Literature, vol. 13 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1928). 2The English Novel in the Magazines, 1740-1815 (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1962). 311 Literary Criticism in British Periodicals to the Mid-Eighteenth Century" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Virginia, 1959). 3 In two separate articles, Claude E. Jones4 surveys the novel and the drama as seen in the first thirty years of the Critical Review to discover public reception of the two genres. In neither case does he attempt a chronological breakdown but uses a topical outline and treats the entire period as a single block. Some of the generalizations he forms are consistent with my findings, but his work does little to integrate the Critical Review with the criticism of other publications. Therefore, he does not observe how the Critical Review often differs from the other publications in its assessment of the novel. William Park5 uses both the Monthly and Critical reviews, indiscriminately, to show that "critics were very much in touch with their times and that no critical lag existed between the understanding of the reviewers and the innovations of a new generation of novelists" (p. 35). He focuses on the shifts in emphasis from nature and verisi- militude to feeling, and from morality to propriety. Though it is helpful, the seven ~rrd one-half-page article does ./ oversimplify the tren~of criticism of the novel by starkly contrasting isolated passages before and after 1760 and by I .:+"The English Novel: A Critical View, 1756-1785," fil& 19 (1958): 147-159 and 213-224; "Dramatic Criticism in the Critical Review, 1756-1785," f:1ill. 20 (1959): 18-26 and 133-144. 511Change in the Criticism of the Novel after 1760," fQ. 46 (1967): 34-41. 4 giving little indication of the slighter and more gradual nuances of change. The four periodicals selected for the present analysis are written by and for a large sector of the read­ ing and writing public. The Gentleman's Magazine originated as an eighteenth-century Reader's Digest, culling items from the leading publications, but it eventually developed its own style and departments of information which included reviews of books and plays. It became the largest­ circulating magazine in British history and continued publi­ cation well into the nineteenth century. The London Magazine was an outright imitator of the Gentleman's Magazine but it appealed to a slightly lower class of reader. The Monthly Review, begun in 1749, was the first journal dedi­ cated solely to informing the public of the contents of the hundreds of books invading the booksellers' shops. The Critical Review, starting seven years later, was more selective than its prototype, and it also exhibited a greater refinement of critical method. The usefulness of selecting periodicals to estimate the contemporary attitudes of the reading public towards the novel should be made quite clear. First of all, they repre­ sent a relatively stable continuum in which gradual change can easily be perceived. With sporadic publications we are not only uncertain of the readership but are in danger of 5 interpreting the enthusiasm of the minute as more significant or permanent than it actually was. Secondly, we have no literary source closer to the people who bought (or borrowed) and read the early novels than the reviewer who recommended them. How these reviewers addressed their audiences, what roles they assumed, their choice of words, their arrangement of ideas within their essays, and what principles of criticism they applied tell us something about the general knowledge and taste of the reading public. We may in fact discover that the practical use of certain critical concepts precedes their solidifica­ tion in the works of major writers and philosophers. We discover, for example, that the London Magazine reviewers described novels in terms of the emotional sympathy they evoke long before they use the term "sympathy" or "sentiment" (with an emotional connotation) or before Adam Smith's publication on The Theory of Moral Sentiments.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Otterbein Miscellany Otterbein Journals & Magazines
    Otterbein University Digital Commons @ Otterbein The Otterbein Miscellany Otterbein Journals & Magazines 5-1967 The Otterbein Miscellany - May 1967 Lynn W. Turner Otterbein College Cleora C. Fuller Otterbein College John K. Coulter Otterbein College James E. Carr Otterbein College Charles B. Buffington Otterbein College See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/miscellany Part of the Fiction Commons, Nonfiction Commons, and the Poetry Commons Recommended Citation Turner, Lynn W.; Fuller, Cleora C.; Coulter, John K.; Carr, James E.; Buffington, Charles B.; Zeiss, Todd R.; Rosselot, E. LaVelle; Hancock, Harold; and Vance, Sylvia, "The Otterbein Miscellany - May 1967" (1967). The Otterbein Miscellany. 9. https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/miscellany/9 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Otterbein Journals & Magazines at Digital Commons @ Otterbein. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Otterbein Miscellany by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Otterbein. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Lynn W. Turner, Cleora C. Fuller, John K. Coulter, James E. Carr, Charles B. Buffington, Todd R. Zeiss, E. LaVelle Rosselot, Harold Hancock, and Sylvia Vance This book is available at Digital Commons @ Otterbein: https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/miscellany/9 THE OTTERBEIN MISCELLANY VOL. m MAY, 1967 FOREWORD The Ouerbein Miscellany is published twice yearly as an outlet for faculty writing on a wide variety of topics. The college underwrites this publication in the belief that it will help main­ tain a genuine community of scholars. Papers are accepted, therefore, on the basis of their interest to the whole academic community rather than to members of a particular discipline.
    [Show full text]
  • The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.," Appeared in 1791
    •Y»] Y Y T 'Y Y Y Qtis>\% Wn^. ECLECTIC ENGLISH CLASSICS THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON BY LORD MACAULAY . * - NEW YORK •:• CINCINNATI •:• CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY Copvrigh' ',5, by American Book Company LIFE OF JOHNSOK. W. P. 2 n INTRODUCTION. Thomas Babington Macaulay, the most popular essayist of his time, was born at Leicestershire, Eng., in 1800. His father, of was a Zachary Macaulay, a friend and coworker Wilberforc^e, man "> f austere character, who was greatly shocked at his son's fondness ">r worldly literature. Macaulay's mother, however, ( encouraged his reading, and did much to foster m*? -erary tastes. " From the time that he was three," says Trevelyan in his stand- " read for the most r_ ard biography, Macaulay incessantly, part CO and a £2 lying on the rug before the fire, with his book on the ground piece of bread and butter in his hand." He early showed marks ^ of uncommon genius. When he was only seven, he took it into " —i his head to write a Compendium of Universal History." He could remember almost the exact phraseology of the books he " " rea'd, and had Scott's Marmion almost entirely by heart. His omnivorous reading and extraordinary memory bore ample fruit in the richness of allusion and brilliancy of illustration that marked " the literary style of his mature years. He could have written Sir " Charles Grandison from memory, and in 1849 he could repeat " more than half of Paradise Lost." In 1 81 8 Macaulay entered Trinity College, Cambridge. Here he in classics and but he had an invincible won prizes English ; distaste for mathematics.
    [Show full text]
  • Furbish'd Remnants
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles “Furbish’d Remnants”: Theatrical Adaptation and the Orient, 1660-1815 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English by Angelina Marie Del Balzo 2019 Ó Copyright by Angelina Marie Del Balzo 2019 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION “Furbish’d Remnants”: Theatrical Adaptation and the Orient, 1660-1815 by Angelina Marie Del Balzo Doctor of Philosophy in English University of California, Los Angeles, 2019 Professor Felicity A. Nussbaum, Chair Furbish’d Remnants argues that eighteenth-century theatrical adaptations set in the Orient destabilize categories of difference, introducing Oriental characters as subjects of sympathy while at the same time defamiliarizing the people and space of London. Applying contemporary theories of emotion, I contend that in eighteenth-century theater, the actor and the character become distinct subjects for the affective transfer of sympathy, increasing the emotional potential of performance beyond the narrative onstage. Adaptation as a form heightens this alienation effect, by drawing attention to narrative’s properties as an artistic construction. A paradox at the heart of eighteenth-century theater is that while the term “adaptation” did not have a specific literary or theatrical definition until near the end of the period, in practice adaptations and translations proliferated on the English stage. Anticipating Linda Hutcheon’s postmodernist theory of adaptation, eighteenth-century playwrights and performers conceptualized adaptation as both process and product. Adaptation created a narrative mode that emphasized the process and labor of performance for audiences in order to create a higher level of engagement with ii audiences.
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliographic Information for Fifty-Three Unlocated Eighteenth-Century Items in Arnott and Robinson's English Theatrical
    Bibliographic Information for Fifty-three Unlocated Eighteenth-Century Items in Arnott and Robinson’s English Theatrical Literature, 1559-1900 By David Wallace Spielman In 1953, members of the Society for Theatre Research (STR) began the daunting task of revising Robert W. Lowe’s A Bibliographical Account of English Theatrical Literature (1888). In the first six years of the project, several editors came and went. As George Speaight says in his introduction, “the work proved too much for our part-time labours.”1 James Fullarton Arnott and John William Robinson were brought on board in 1959 to bring the project to completion. The resulting volume appeared in print in 1970 as English Theatrical Literature, 1559-1900: A Bibliography (hereafter A&R), one of the great achievements of the Society. A&R incorporates and substantially expands Lowe’s bibliography and has been a basic reference source for theatre historians for almost forty years. Its utility prompted John Cavanagh to continue the project up through 1985 in his British Theatre: A Bibliography, 1901 to 1985.2 Lowe personally examined all the items that he could, and Arnott and Robinson followed Lowe’s precedent in their revision and expansion. As they admit in their preface, however, the editors were not able to see everything listed in the bibliography (xii). They included some items based solely on information received from sources they deemed reliable. The amount of information provided for these items varies widely, and those with no library location supplied have long been a source of frustration to scholars. Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) has made full-text facsimile copies of a substantial number of these “unseen” items readily available.
    [Show full text]
  • The Value of Money in Eighteenth-Century England: Incomes, Prices, Buying Power— and Some Problems in Cultural Economics
    The Value of Money in Eighteenth-Century England: Incomes, Prices, Buying Power— and Some Problems in Cultural Economics Robert D. Hume &'453&(5 Robert D. Hume offers an empirical investigation of incomes, cost, artist remuneration, and buying power in the realm of long eighteenth-century cultural production and purchase. What was earned by writers, actors, singers, musicians, and painters? Who could afford to buy a book? Attend a play or opera? Acquire a painting? Only 6 percent of families had £100 per annum income, and only about 3 percent had £200. What is the “buying power” magnitude of such sums? No single multiplier yields a legitimate present-day equivalent, but a range of 200 –300 gives a rough sense of magnitude for most of this period. Novels are now thought of as a bourgeois phenomenon, but they cost 3s. per volume. A family with a £200 annual income would have to spend nearly a full day’s income to buy a four-volume novel, but only 12 percent for a play. The market for plays was natu - rally much larger, which explains high copyright payments to playwrights and very low payments for most novels—hence the large number of novels by women, who had few ways to earn money. From this investigation we learn two broad facts. First, that the earnings of most writers, actors, musicians, and singers were gener - ally scanty but went disproportionately to a few stars, and second, that most of the culture we now study is inarguably elite: it was mostly consumed by the top 1 per - cent or 0.5 percent of the English population.
    [Show full text]
  • Unusual Punishments” in Anglo- American Law: the Ed Ath Penalty As Arbitrary, Discriminatory, and Cruel and Unusual John D
    Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy Volume 13 | Issue 4 Article 2 Spring 2018 The onceptC of “Unusual Punishments” in Anglo- American Law: The eD ath Penalty as Arbitrary, Discriminatory, and Cruel and Unusual John D. Bessler Recommended Citation John D. Bessler, The Concept of “Unusual Punishments” in Anglo-American Law: The Death Penalty as Arbitrary, Discriminatory, and Cruel and Unusual, 13 Nw. J. L. & Soc. Pol'y. 307 (2018). https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njlsp/vol13/iss4/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy by an authorized editor of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Scholarly Commons. Copyright 2018 by Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law `Vol. 13, Issue 4 (2018) Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy The Concept of “Unusual Punishments” in Anglo-American Law: The Death Penalty as Arbitrary, Discriminatory, and Cruel and Unusual John D. Bessler* ABSTRACT The Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, like the English Bill of Rights before it, safeguards against the infliction of “cruel and unusual punishments.” To better understand the meaning of that provision, this Article explores the concept of “unusual punishments” and its opposite, “usual punishments.” In particular, this Article traces the use of the “usual” and “unusual” punishments terminology in Anglo-American sources to shed new light on the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause. The Article surveys historical references to “usual” and “unusual” punishments in early English and American texts, then analyzes the development of American constitutional law as it relates to the dividing line between “usual” and “unusual” punishments.
    [Show full text]
  • Irish Literature, 1750–1900
    Wright: Irish Literature 1750–1900 9781405145190_4_001 Page Proof page 131.7.2007 3:38pm Irish Literature, 1750–1900 Wright: Irish Literature 1750–1900 9781405145190_4_001 Page Proof page 231.7.2007 3:38pm Wright: Irish Literature 1750–1900 9781405145190_4_001 Page Proof page 331.7.2007 3:38pm Thomas Sheridan (1719–1788) Thomas Sheridan, probably born in Dublin but Humble Appeal also included a proposal for a possibly in Co. Cavan, was the son of another national theater in Dublin that would be publicly Thomas Sheridan (clergyman and author) and administered and ensure fair treatment of theater the godson of Jonathan Swift (a close friend of workers. the family). He may have been a descendant of As a dramatist, Sheridan mostly adapted other Denis Sheridan (c.1610–83), a native Irish authors’ works, as was common in his day; he speaker who assisted in the translation of the adapted, for instance, Coriolanus (1755) from Old Testament into Irish as part of Bishop texts by English authors William Shakespeare Bedell’s efforts to make the Church of Ireland and James Thomson. His enduringly popular accessible to Irish speakers. The younger Thomas farce The Brave Irishman: Or, Captain O’Blunder Sheridan worked primarily in the theater, as was published and staged throughout the second actor, manager, playwright, and author of var- half of the eighteenth century and compactly ious tracts related to theater reform, but also abbreviated in three double-columned pages published on other subjects, including British for the Cabinet of Irish Literature a century Education: Or the Source of Disorders in Great later.
    [Show full text]
  • Trips to the Moon, by Lucian
    Trips to the Moon, by Lucian This eBook was prepared by Les Bowler, St. Ives, Dorset. TRIPS TO THE MOON by Lucian. Translated from the Greek by Thomas Francklin, D.D. CONTENTS. Introduction by Professor Henry Morley. Instructions for Writing History. The True History. Preface. Book 1. Book 2. Icaro-Menippus—A Dialogue. INTRODUCTION. Lucian, in Greek Loukianos, was a Syrian, born about the year 120 at Samosata, where a bend of the Euphrates brings that river nearest to the borders of Cilicia in Asia Minor. He had in him by nature a quick flow of wit, with a bent towards Greek literature. It was thought at home that he showed as a boy the artist nature by his skill in making little waxen images. An uncle on his mother’s side happened to be a sculptor. The home was poor, Lucian would have his bread to earn, and when he was fourteen he was apprenticed to his uncle that he might learn to become a sculptor. Before long, while polishing a marble tablet he pressed on it too heavily and broke it. His uncle thrashed him. Lucian’s spirit rebelled, and he went home giving the comic reason that his uncle beat him because jealous of the extraordinary power he showed in his art. After some debate Lucian abandoned training as a sculptor, studied literature and rhetoric, and qualified himself for the career of an advocate and teacher at a time when rhetoric had still a chief place in the schools. He practised for a short time unsuccessfully at Antioch, and then travelled for the cultivation of his mind in Greece, Italy, and Gaul, making his way by use of his wits, as Goldsmith did long afterwards when he started, at the outset also of his career as a writer, on a grand tour of the continent with nothing in his pocket.
    [Show full text]
  • GARRICKS JUBILEE.Pdf
    fr na A comprehensive — and occasionally hilarious—study of the three-day fes­ tival staged by David Garrick, the brilliant actor and manager of the Drury Lane Theatre in London, at Stratford-upon-Avon, in September, 1769. This was the first Shakespeare fes­ tival to engage national interest, and although its critics vilified it as a fiasco and a monumental example of bad taste, its defenders thought it a glorious occasion. James Boswell, a member of the latter group, de­ scribed it as being ((not a piece of farce . , but an elegant and truly classical celebration of the memory of Shakespeare." Reproduced on the stage in vary­ ing moods of glorification and satire, the Jubilee ultimately became en­ tangled in the very threads of Eng­ lish life. The combination of Garrick and Stratford produced a catalyst (Continued on back flap) Garrick's Jubilee Garrick's Jubilee By Martha Winburn England Ohio State University Press Copyright © 1964 by the Ohio State University Press All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 64-17109 Chapters II and V and portions of Chapters I and III are reprinted from the author's Garrick and Stratford, © 1962, 1964 by The New York Public Library. They are used here by permission of the publisher. A portion of Chapter VI first appeared in Bulletin of the New York Public Library, LXIII, No. 3 (March, 1959) ; and a portion of Chapter VIll in Shakespeare Survey, No. 9 (1956). They are reprinted here by permission of the publishers. To Harry Levin Preface THE LIBRARIES of Harvard University, Yale University, and Queens College, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the New York Public Library, and the archives of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust have made my work possible.
    [Show full text]
  • The Reception of Ancient Greek Tragedy in England 1660- 1760
    THE RECEPTION OF ANCIENT GREEK TRAGEDY IN ENGLAND 1660- 1760 Michael Waters, University College London Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 I, Michael Waters confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 ABSTRACT The dissertation enquires into some of the forms that the reception of ancient Greek tragedy took in England between 1660 and 1760. It looks at those critics and translators who engaged most with ancient Greek tragedy and whose engagement was accompanied by an interest in ancient theory and native English literature. Chapter 1, after examining works by George Gascoigne and Francis Kinwelmershe, Thomas Goffe, Thomas May and Christopher Wase, considers William Joyner’s original tragedy The Roman Empress (1670) in order to see what use Joyner made of Sophocles’ Oedipus and Euripides’ Hippolytus and Medea. Chapter 2 turns to the writings of, especially, John Dryden, Thomas Rymer, John Dennis and Charles Gildon, who were the most prolific and interesting commentators on dramatic theory in England at this time, and assesses their different perspectives on the questions of tragedy and the modern stage. Chapter 3 addresses separately comments on ancient Greek tragedy contained in Jeremy Collier’s attack on contemporary English theatre in A Short View of the Immorality, and Profaneness of the English Stage (1698) and in replies to him. Chapter 4 concentrates on Lewis Theobald’s translations of Sophocles’ Electra (1714) and Oedipus (1715) and how his views of ancient Greek tragedy influenced, and were influenced by, his interest in Shakespeare, an edition of whose plays he published in 1733.
    [Show full text]
  • 4 ` Cicero' on the (Theatre) Stage
    4 CI` CERO' ON THE(THEATRE) STAGE The earliest dramas in which ‘Cicero’ appears on stage as acharacter date from the last quarter of the sixteenth century: apiece in France, one in Germany and (at least) three in Britain were produced in fairly quick succession. In all of these ‘Cicero’ is not the protagonist after whom the plays are named; instead, he is a more or less important figure involved in the dramatic action. 4.1 Robert Garnier, Corne´ lie (1574) Context Robert Garnier ( c. 1545–1590) studied law and did legal work in Paris before becoming amagistrate in his native district of Maine (a region in France) and later amember of the Grand Conseil du Royaume in Paris. From his student days onwards Garnier wrote literary works, starting with lyric and later turning to dramatic poetry.Heisnow regarded as one of the most significant French dramatists of the sixteenth century. The majority of Garnier’splays dramatize stories from the ancient world: Porcie (1568), Corne´ lie (1574), Hippolyte (1574), Marc-Antoine (1578), La Troade (1579) and Antigone (1580). At the same time the themes have contemporary resonance: the pieces share an emphasis on civil war,are characterized by arepublican outlook and were published during the turbulent period of the French Wars of Religion.1 As for their form, Garnier’splays feature little dramatic action and rather consist of an alternation of rhetorically developed speeches and choruses; they are based on the model of Seneca’sLatin tragedies.2 28 R EVIVING C ICEROIN D RAMA Corne´ lie was first performed in 1573; it was first published in 1574 and then included in an edition of Garnier’stragedies in 1585.
    [Show full text]
  • John Larpent Plays
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf1h4n985c No online items John Larpent Plays Processed by Dougald MacMillan in 1939; supplementary encoding and revision by Diann Benti in January 2018. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org © 2000 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. John Larpent Plays mssLA 1-2503 1 Overview of the Collection Title: John Larpent Plays Dates (inclusive): 1737-1824 Collection Number: mssLA 1-2503 Creator: Larpent, John, 1741-1824. Extent: 2,503 pieces. Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org Abstract: This collection consists of official manuscript copies of plays submitted for licensing in Great Britain between 1737 and 1824 that were in the possession of John Larpent (1741-1824), the examiner of plays, at the time of his death in 1824. The collection includes 2,399 identified plays as well as an additional 104 unidentified pieces including addresses, prologues, epilogues, etc. Language: English. Access Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services. Publication Rights The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
    [Show full text]