1st Edition

Shakespeare in the Victorian Periodicals

By Kathryn Prince Copyright 2008
    180 Pages
    by Routledge

    190 Pages
    by Routledge

    Based on extensive archival research, Shakespeare in the Victorian Periodicals offers an entirely new perspective on popular Shakespeare reception by focusing on articles published in Victorian periodicals. Shakespeare had already reached the apex of British culture in the previous century, becoming the national poet of the middle and upper classes, but during the Victorian era he was embraced by more marginal groups. If Shakespeare was sometimes employed as an instrument of enculturation, imposed on these groups, he was also used by them to resist this cultural hegemony.

    Preface

    Acknowledgments

    Introduction: The Nineteenth-Century Popular Press and Shakespeare Reception History

    Chapter One: Making Shakespeare Readers in the Early Working Class Press

    Chapter Two: Shakespeare for Manly Boys and Marriageable Girls

    Chapter Three: Character Criticism and its Discontents in Periodicals for Women

    Chapter Four: The Theatres Regulation Act and the Great Exhibition in the Theatrical Journal

    Chapter Five: Victorian Periodicals and England’s National Theatre Debate

    Notes

    Bibliography

    Index

    Biography

    Kathryn Prince

    "Prince's book opens up an important and little-investigated terrain for Shakespeare reception studies and demonstrates the key role of periodicals in Shakespeare's wider dissemination during the nineteenth century. It is a useful addition to the existing Shakespeare literature that will be of interest to scholars of Victorian literature, cultural studies, and theatrical history." --Shakespeare Quarterly

    "Kathryn Price's Shakespeare in the Victorian Periodicals is a needed addition to nineteenth-century studies... an engaging and well-researched introduction to the topic, and we can look forward to future studies that take up the threads of this discussion." --Victorian Periodicals Review