Laurence Publicover
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198806813
- eISBN:
- 9780191844362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198806813.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
The Introduction lays out the argument of the book, in part through discussion of critical responses to the geography of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Situating the book’s critical approach within the ...
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The Introduction lays out the argument of the book, in part through discussion of critical responses to the geography of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Situating the book’s critical approach within the several scholarly fields it engages, including theatre history, theories of genre, Mediterranean studies, and theories of intertextuality, it then outlines the contribution Dramatic Geography makes to existing discussions of early modern Mediterranean plays. The Introduction goes on to offer an overview and analysis of how early modern drama stages space and location, working through episodes from plays including Henry V, Hamlet, and Antony and Cleopatra. Finally, it differentiates early modern ways of staging space from those employed in the Restoration theatres, stressing the greater flexibility and complexity of early modern methods, and makes a case for the importance of understanding dramatic geography if we are better to comprehend the ways in which drama creates meaning.Less
The Introduction lays out the argument of the book, in part through discussion of critical responses to the geography of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Situating the book’s critical approach within the several scholarly fields it engages, including theatre history, theories of genre, Mediterranean studies, and theories of intertextuality, it then outlines the contribution Dramatic Geography makes to existing discussions of early modern Mediterranean plays. The Introduction goes on to offer an overview and analysis of how early modern drama stages space and location, working through episodes from plays including Henry V, Hamlet, and Antony and Cleopatra. Finally, it differentiates early modern ways of staging space from those employed in the Restoration theatres, stressing the greater flexibility and complexity of early modern methods, and makes a case for the importance of understanding dramatic geography if we are better to comprehend the ways in which drama creates meaning.
Laurence Publicover
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198806813
- eISBN:
- 9780191844362
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198806813.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
Focusing on early modern plays that stage encounters between peoples of different cultures, this book asks how a sense of geographical location was created in early modern theatres that featured ...
More
Focusing on early modern plays that stage encounters between peoples of different cultures, this book asks how a sense of geographical location was created in early modern theatres that featured minimal scenery. While previous studies have stressed these plays’ connections to a historical Mediterranean in which England was increasingly involved, this book demonstrates how their dramatic geography was shaped through a literary and theatrical heritage. Reading canonical plays including The Merchant of Venice, The Jew of Malta, and The Tempest alongside lesser-known dramas such as Soliman and Perseda, Guy of Warwick, and The Travels of the Three English Brothers, Dramatic Geography illustrates, first, how early modern dramatists staging foreign worlds drew upon a romance tradition dating back to the medieval period, and second, how they responded to one another’s plays to create an ‘intertheatrical geography’. These strategies, the book argues, shape the plays’ wider meanings in important ways, and could only have operated within the theatrical environment peculiar to early modern London: one in which playwrights worked in close proximity, in one instance perhaps even living together while composing Mediterranean dramas, and one where they could expect audiences to respond to subtle generic and intertextual negotiations. In reassessing this group of plays, the book brings into conversation scholarship on theatre history, cultural encounter, and literary geography; it also contributes to current debates in early modern studies regarding the nature of dramatic authorship, the relationship between genre and history, and the continuities that run between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries.Less
Focusing on early modern plays that stage encounters between peoples of different cultures, this book asks how a sense of geographical location was created in early modern theatres that featured minimal scenery. While previous studies have stressed these plays’ connections to a historical Mediterranean in which England was increasingly involved, this book demonstrates how their dramatic geography was shaped through a literary and theatrical heritage. Reading canonical plays including The Merchant of Venice, The Jew of Malta, and The Tempest alongside lesser-known dramas such as Soliman and Perseda, Guy of Warwick, and The Travels of the Three English Brothers, Dramatic Geography illustrates, first, how early modern dramatists staging foreign worlds drew upon a romance tradition dating back to the medieval period, and second, how they responded to one another’s plays to create an ‘intertheatrical geography’. These strategies, the book argues, shape the plays’ wider meanings in important ways, and could only have operated within the theatrical environment peculiar to early modern London: one in which playwrights worked in close proximity, in one instance perhaps even living together while composing Mediterranean dramas, and one where they could expect audiences to respond to subtle generic and intertextual negotiations. In reassessing this group of plays, the book brings into conversation scholarship on theatre history, cultural encounter, and literary geography; it also contributes to current debates in early modern studies regarding the nature of dramatic authorship, the relationship between genre and history, and the continuities that run between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Laurence Publicover
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198806813
- eISBN:
- 9780191844362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198806813.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
The Conclusion brings together the book’s arguments through a discussion of The Tempest’s geography, focusing in particular on its presentation of the sea. Arguing that dramatic geography is a unique ...
More
The Conclusion brings together the book’s arguments through a discussion of The Tempest’s geography, focusing in particular on its presentation of the sea. Arguing that dramatic geography is a unique form of literary geography in that it asks playgoers to consider the relationship between the site of performance and the site performed, it posits that early modern theatrical culture allowed for an especially rich dramatic geography for a number of reasons, including the design and mutual proximity of the London theatres and the fact that early modern playgoers were especially skilled at picking up on meanings created through generic strategies and intertheatrical negotiations.Less
The Conclusion brings together the book’s arguments through a discussion of The Tempest’s geography, focusing in particular on its presentation of the sea. Arguing that dramatic geography is a unique form of literary geography in that it asks playgoers to consider the relationship between the site of performance and the site performed, it posits that early modern theatrical culture allowed for an especially rich dramatic geography for a number of reasons, including the design and mutual proximity of the London theatres and the fact that early modern playgoers were especially skilled at picking up on meanings created through generic strategies and intertheatrical negotiations.
James H. Cox
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816675975
- eISBN:
- 9781452947679
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816675975.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Native American Studies
This chapter examines Cherokee dramatist Rollie Lynn Riggs’ Mexico plays, in which he imagines the dramatic geographies of the many Indian territories of the United States and Mexico. These ...
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This chapter examines Cherokee dramatist Rollie Lynn Riggs’ Mexico plays, in which he imagines the dramatic geographies of the many Indian territories of the United States and Mexico. These geographies are so historically, emotionally, sexually, and spiritually similar that they appear interchangeable: the Cherokee Nation is Indian Territory; Indian Territory is indigenous Mexico; and indigenous Mexico is Indian Territory and the Cherokee Nation. Riggs produces a Great Indian Territory or Greater Indigenous Mexico, though only a consideration of his entire corpus makes this intertribal and indigenous transnational space legible.Less
This chapter examines Cherokee dramatist Rollie Lynn Riggs’ Mexico plays, in which he imagines the dramatic geographies of the many Indian territories of the United States and Mexico. These geographies are so historically, emotionally, sexually, and spiritually similar that they appear interchangeable: the Cherokee Nation is Indian Territory; Indian Territory is indigenous Mexico; and indigenous Mexico is Indian Territory and the Cherokee Nation. Riggs produces a Great Indian Territory or Greater Indigenous Mexico, though only a consideration of his entire corpus makes this intertribal and indigenous transnational space legible.
