Glorious Causes

NOTE EDITORE

Glorious Causes explores the politics of theatricality and the theatricality of politics in late Georgian Britain, at a time when the British nation can be described as a stage for reform. 1832 is particularly significant for legislation in relation to both the drama and the parliamentary franchise. In many ways, though, the forces of change date back to the later part of the eighteenth-century, and were set in motion by powerful liberation movements, not only in France and North America, but in Britain itself. Particularly important, in addition to agitation for the vote, were the movements for abolition of the slave trade and slave emancipation, the attempt to improve conditions in the factory, resistance to the exploitation of agricultural workers and, not least, the early struggle for women's rights. Political rhetoric was characterized by a rich vocabulary, drawing on theatrical language and forms, from melodrama and tragedy, to comedy and burlesque. Most importantly, activity in the theatres themselves, often dismissed until recently as vulgar or sentimental, was highly charged with political dynamic and controversy, central to the drama of reform.

SOMMARIO

1 - The Grand Theatre of Reform2 - Slavery, Removing the Curtain from the Truth3 - Dark Satanic Mills, Transforming the Face of England4 - Distressed Tenants and Rural Landscapes5 - Women Players and the Protection Racket6 - The Grand Theatre of Political Change, 1789 to 1833

AUTORE

Julia Swindells is Director of English Studies, Homerton College, Cambridge

ALTRE INFORMAZIONI

• Condizione: Nuovo
• ISBN: 9780198187295
• Dimensioni: 225 x 17.0 x 145 mm Ø 391 gr
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Illustration Notes: 8pp halftone plates
• Pagine Arabe: 216