Actresses on the Victorian Stage: Feminine Performance and the Galatea Myth: 16 (Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture, Series Number 16) - Softcover

Marshall, Gail

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521027462 ISBN 13: 9780521027465

Verlag: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Inhaltsangabe

This book examines actresses on the English stage of the later nineteenth century, and reveals that much of their work is determined by the popularity at the time of images of Classical sculpture. The book looks at many neglected plays and draws on theatrical fictions and visual representations, as well as theatrical productions.

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Críticas

"Valuable footnotes; essential illustrations....General readers, graduate students, researchers, and professionals will be grateful." Choice

Reseña del editor

Gail Marshall argues that the professional and personal history of the Victorian actress was largely defined by her negotiation with the sculptural metaphor, and that this was authorized and determined by the Ovidian myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. Drawing on evidence of theatrical fictions, visual representations and popular culture's assimilation of the sculptural image, as well as theatrical productions, she examines some of the manifestations of the sculptural metaphor on the legitimate English stage, and its implications for the actress in the later nineteenth century. Within the legitimate theatre, the 'Galatea-aesthetic' positioned actresses as predominantly visual and sexual commodities whose opportunities for interpretative engagement with their plays were minimal. This dominant aesthetic was effectively challenged only at the end of the century, with the advent of the 'New' drama, and the emergence of a body of autobiographical writings by actresses.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0521027462
• ISBN 13: 9780521027465
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Anzahl der Seiten: 252