| Description |
1 online resource |
| Series |
Cambridge elements. Elements in eighteenth-century connections |
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Cambridge elements. Elements in eighteenth-century connections.
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| Contents |
Introduction - The Twelve Paratextual Elements -- Background -- Ten Varieties of Paratext and Two Subsets -- Observations, Reflections, and Questions -- Overview :The Big Picture, 1590-1800 -- Appendix A : Cumulative Statistics by Decade and in Toto -- Appendix B : Twelve Varieties of Paratext in New English PrintedPlays,1660-1700 -- Bibliography |
| Summary |
This Element Paratext printed with new English plays has a lot to tell us about what playwrights were attempting to do and how audiences responded, thereby contributing substantially to our understanding of larger patterns of generic evolution across two centuries. The presence (or absence) of twelve elements needs to be systematically surveyed. (1) Attribution of authorship; (2) generic designation; (3) performance auspices; (4) government license authorizing publication; (5) dedication; (6) prefaces of various sorts; (7a-b-c) list of characters (three types); (8) actors' names (sometimes with descriptive characterizations-very helpful for deducing intended authorial interpretation); (9) location of action; (10) prologue and epilogue for first production. Surveying these results, we can see that much of the generic evolution traceable in the later seventeenth century gets undone during the eighteenth-a reversal largely attributable to the Licensing Act of 1737. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core. -- Provided by publisher |
| Notes |
Sadly, Rob Hume passed away, after a short and shockingly sudden illness, as this volume was going into production. Typically of his altruism and generosity of spirit, he had been working on a book about those he considered the leading critics of the twentieth and early twenty-first century. He surely belonged in such a book himself. No one has done more to reshape our understanding and appreciation of Restoration and Eighteenth-century theater, and more recently, of opera, than Rob. A committed historicist who believed that information and data are more useful to others than ideology and will certainly outlast it, he charmed librarians into finding all-but forgotten archives hidden in unopened cardboard boxes in library basements. He will be remembered for his brilliant and prolific scholarship -- but also through the many lives he touched. Rob mentored, professionalized and supported generations of women students and women faculty. Many will mourn the loss with him of a true friend -- a man of integrity and principle, of ruthless honesty and unbending loyalty, who cared, and could be relied upon for good advice and practical help in any emergency. It is an honor to have his work in our series, and we hope that he would have approved of the editing, copy-editing and formatting decisions we have had to make without him. -- Eve Tavor Bannet, November 2023 |
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Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on January 04, 2024) |
| Subject |
Paratext -- Great Britain -- History -- 17th century
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English drama -- 17th century -- History and criticism
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9781009270502 |
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1009270508 |
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