Paratext Printed with New English Plays, 1660–1700

This Element described the generic evolution of playwrights and audiences across the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries.

Robert D. Hume (Author)

9781009454124, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 February 2024

92 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1 cm, 0.29 kg

This Element Paratext printed with new English plays has a lot to tell us about what playwrights were attempting to do and how audiences responded, thereby contributing substantially to our understanding of larger patterns of generic evolution across two centuries. The presence (or absence) of twelve elements needs to be systematically surveyed. (1) Attribution of authorship; (2) generic designation; (3) performance auspices; (4) government license authorizing publication; (5) dedication; (6) prefaces of various sorts; (7a-b-c) list of characters (three types); (8) actors' names (sometimes with descriptive characterizations-very helpful for deducing intended authorial interpretation); (9) location of action; (10) prologue and epilogue for first production. Surveying these results, we can see that much of the generic evolution traceable in the later seventeenth century gets undone during the eighteenth-a reversal largely attributable to the Licensing Act of 1737. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

1. The twelve paratextual elements
2. Background
3. Ten varieties of paratext and two subsets
4. Observations, reflections, and questions
5. Overview: the big picture 1590–1800
Appendix A: cumulative statistics by decade and in toto
Appendix B: twelve varieties of paratext in 377 new English printed plays, 1660–1700
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]