(En-)Gendering a popular theatrical genre : the roles of women in nineteenth-century British melodrama / Merle Tönnies.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tönnies, Merle, author.

Series:

Anglistische Forschungen ; Band 443.

Anglistische Forschungen ; Band 443

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

English drama--19th century--History and criticism.

English drama.

English drama--20th century--History and criticism.

Theater--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Theater.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (366 p.)

Place of Publication:

Heidelberg, [Germany] : Universitätsverlag Winter, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Situated on the borderline between literary and cultural studies, this work is based on the analysis of more than 500 nineteenth-century British dramas (many of them only available as manuscripts). The main focus is on the genre of melodrama, with other dramatic forms used as a comparative background. The study draws on cultural studies models of the popular, on gender and role theory as well as reception studies to examine the representations of women constructed by the plays, thereby transcending many of the standard generalisations about femininity in melodrama and in the Victorian Age in g

Contents:

Inhalt; Acknowledgements; 1 Women and melodrama. Representation and response; 2 The dominant femininity concept up to 1860; 3 The theatrical genre system up to 1860; 4 The genre characteristics of pre-1860 melodrama; 5 The heroine as an ideal victim; 5.1 The basic pattern: Victimised by the villain's desires; 5.2 Two variations: Unfounded criminal suspicion and marital suffering; 6 The active heroine; 6.1 Counteracting the villain's desires; 6.2 The female saviour; 7 The sexualised heroine; 7.1 Chastity under suspicion; 7.2 Love and marriage without patriarchal sanction

7.2.1 Unsanctioned relationships7.2.2 Elopements; 7.2.3 Marriages without patriarchal consent; 7.3 Sexual intercourse without marriage; 7.4 Marital infidelity; 8 The villainess; 9 The interaction between the basic female roles and their joint cultural significance; 10 Gender and genre struggles after 1860; 11 Changes in the four key roles after 1860; 11.1 The adulteress and other sexualised heroines; 11.2 The adventuress; 11.3 Chaste heroines; 12 Taking 'female' melodrama beyond the stage: Some comparative thoughts on 'popular' genres after 1900; Abbreviations; Bibliography

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed May 23, 2014).

ISBN:

9783825374518

3825374513