Printed drama and political instability in mid-seventeenth century Britain : the literary politics of resistance and distraction in plays and entertainments, 1649-1658 / Christopher Orchard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Orchard, Christopher (College teacher), author.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Routledge studies in Renaissance literature and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English drama--17th century--History and criticism.

English drama.

Politics in literature.

Politics and literature--Great Britain--History--17th century.

Politics and literature.

Literature and society--Great Britain--History--17th century.

Literature and society.

Great Britain.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

336 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2023.

Summary:

"Printed Drama and Political Instability in Mid-Seventeenth Century Britain: The Literary Politics of Resistance and Distraction in Plays and Entertainments from 1649-1658 describes the function of printed drama in 1650s Britain. After the regicide of 1649, printed plays could be interpreted by Royalist readers as texts of resistance to the republic and protectoral governments respectively. However, there were often discrepancies between the aspirational content of these plays and the realities facing a Royalist party who had been defeated in the civil wars. Similarly, plays with a classically republican Roman setting failed to offer a successful model for the new republic. Consequently, writers who supported the new republic and, eventually, Cromwell's protectoral government, proposed entertainments, based around the concept of the sublime, whose purpose was affect: that is, creating political amnesia in the audience, thereby nullifying any political dissatisfaction with a non-monarchical form of government. This volume will appeal to students and scholars of seventeenth century literature, and of the political history of 1640s and 1650s Britain"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The ambivalent political messaging of printed drama in 1650s Britain

Poetics as political policy: the republic's early response to Royalist drama, 1649-1651

"A floating unbalanced peopld": drama and the instability of the republican state, 1651-1653

They "always speak things as they would have them": the failures of aspirational Royalist drama, 1651-3

Royalist drama and the legitimacy of authority in the mid-1650s

Republics and ethics: the moral probity of Protectoral entertainments, 1653-58

Conclusion: the hijacking of republican poetics.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781032436678

1032436670

9781032508757

1032508752

OCLC:

1369147333

Publisher Number:

90101153412