Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the English Stage (1704)
Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the English Stage (1704)

Author: Josiah Woodward

Publisher: Good Press

Published: 2023-08-19

Total Pages: 38

ISBN-13:

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In 'Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the English Stage (1704),' editors Josiah Woodward and Emmett Langdon Avery curate a compelling anthology that scrutinizes the moral landscape of early 18th-century English theatre. This collection is marked by its rich diversity in literary styles, encompassing a range of critiques, plays, and essays that serve to frame the theatrical scene of the era not as mere entertainment but as a mirror of societal ethics and values. The anthology stands out for its critical examination of what the editors perceive as the erosion of moral standards, providing an invaluable lens through which we can understand cultural and ethical debates of the time. The contributing authors and editors themselves are nestled at the heart of a significant literary and moral debate, hailing from varied backgrounds yet unified by their concern for the cultural and societal impact of the stage. Their collective works embody the tensions between art and morality, highlighting the role of the theatre in reflecting and shaping public perceptions of virtue and vice. This anthology aligns with broader historical and cultural movements seeking to regulate and redefine the arts according to moral standards, showcasing a pivotal moment in the evolution of English literature and theatre. 'Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the English Stage' is an essential read for those intrigued by the intersection of literature, ethics, and society. The anthology offers a unique opportunity to explore diverse literary styles and themes, all while engaging in the broader dialogue on the moral responsibilities of the arts. Readers are invited to traverse the complexities of early 18th-century thought, gaining insights into the historical debates that shaped English literature and theatre. This collection promises not just an educational journey, but a fascinating exploration of the dynamic interplay between art, morality, and culture.

The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature: Volume 2, 1660-1800
The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature: Volume 2, 1660-1800

Author: George Watson

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1971-07-02

Total Pages: 1698

ISBN-13: 9780521079341

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More than fifty specialists have contributed to this new edition of volume 2 of The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. The design of the original work has established itself so firmly as a workable solution to the immense problems of analysis, articulation and coordination that it has been retained in all its essentials for the new edition. The task of the new contributors has been to revise and integrate the lists of 1940 and 1957, to add materials of the following decade, to correct and refine the bibliographical details already available, and to re-shape the whole according to a new series of conventions devised to give greater clarity and consistency to the entries.

The Oxford Handbook of the Georgian Theatre 1737-1832
The Oxford Handbook of the Georgian Theatre 1737-1832

Author: Julia Swindells

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2014-01-16

Total Pages: 786

ISBN-13: 0191655198

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The Oxford Handbook of the Georgian Theatre 1737-1832 provides an essential guide to theatre in Britain between the passing of the Stage Licensing Act in 1737 and the Reform Act of 1832 — a period of drama long neglected but now receiving significant scholarly attention. Written by specialists from a range of disciplines, its forty essays both introduce students and scholars to the key texts and contexts of the Georgian theatre and also push the boundaries of the field, asking questions that will animate the study of drama in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries for years to come. The Handbook gives equal attention to the range of dramatic forms — not just tragedy and comedy, but the likes of melodrama and pantomime — as they developed and overlapped across the period, and to the occasions, communities, and materialities of theatre production. It includes sections on historiography, the censorship and regulation of drama, theatre and the Romantic canon, women and the stage, and the performance of race and empire. In doing so, the Handbook shows the centrality of theatre to Georgian culture and politics, and paints a picture of a stage defined by generic fluidity and experimentation; by networks of performance that spread far beyond London; by professional women who played pivotal roles in every aspect of production; and by its complex mediation of contemporary attitudes of class, race, and gender.

Ridicule, Religion and the Politics of Wit in Augustan England
Ridicule, Religion and the Politics of Wit in Augustan England

Author: Roger D. Lund

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-23

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1317062973

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Arguing for the importance of wit beyond its use as a literary device, Roger D. Lund outlines the process by which writers in Restoration and eighteenth-century England struggled to define an appropriate role for wit in the public sphere. He traces its unpredictable effects in works of philosophy, religious pamphlets, and legal writing and examines what happens when literary wit is deliberately used to undermine the judgment of individuals and to destabilize established institutions of church and state. Beginning with a discussion of wit's association with deception, Lund suggests that suspicion of wit and the imagination emerges in attacks on the Restoration stage, in the persecution of The Craftsman, and in criticism directed at Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan and works by writers like the Earl of Shaftesbury, Thomas Woolston, and Thomas Paine. Anxieties about wit, Lund shows, were in part responsible for attempts to suppress new communal venues such as coffee houses and clubs and for the Church's condemnation of the seditious pamphlets made possible by the lapse of the Licensing Act in 1695. Finally, the establishment's conviction that wit, ridicule, satire, and innuendo are subversive rhetorical forms is glaringly at play in attempts to use libel trials to translate the fear of wit as a metaphorical transgression of public decorum into an actual violation of the civil code.

The Mental Universe of the English Nonjurors
The Mental Universe of the English Nonjurors

Author: John William Klein

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2021-09-21

Total Pages: 484

ISBN-13: 1664190414

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The Glorious Revolution of 1688, which pushed James II from the throne of England, was not glorious for everyone; in fact, for many, it was a great disaster. Those who had already taken an oath of allegiance to James II and “to his heirs and lawful successors” now pondered how they could take a second oath to William and Mary. Those who initially refused to swear the oaths were called Nonjurors. In 1691, Archbishop Sancroft, eight bishops, and four hundred clergy of the Church of England, as well as a substantial number of scholars at Oxford and Cambridge, were deprived, removed from their offices and their license to practice removed. The loss of this talent to the realm was incalcuable. Ten different paradigms shaped the English Nonjurors’ worldview: Passive Obedience was paramount, the Apostolic Succession essential, a Cyprianist mentality colored everything, they held a conscientious regard for oaths, the Usages Controversy brought Tradition to the fore, printing presses replaced lost pulpits, patronage was a means of protection and proliferation, they lived with a hybridized conception of time, creative women spiritual writers complemented male bishops, and a global ecumenical approach to the Orthodox East was visionary. These ten operated synergistically to create an effective tool for the Nonjurors’ survival and success in their mission. The Nonjurors’ influence, out of all proportion to their size, was due in large measure to this mentality. Their unique circumstances prompted creative thinking, and they were superb in that endeavor. These perspectives constituted the infrastructure of the Nonjurors’ world, and they help us to see the early eighteenth century not only as a time of rapid change, but also as an era of persistent older religious mentalities adapted to new circumstances.