Additional information
by Joanna Hofer-Robinson (Editor), Beth Palmer (Editor)
Features previously unpublished material alongside famous plays This pioneering edition provides access to some of the most popular plays of the nineteenth century. Characterised by exhilarating plots, large-scale special effects and often transgressive characterisation, these dramas are still exciting for modern readers. This anthology lays the foundation for further scholarly work on sensation drama and focuses public attention on to this influential and immensely popular genre. It features five plays from writers including Dion Boucicault and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. These are supported by a substantial critical apparatus, which adds further value to the anthology by providing rich details on performance history and textual variants. The critical introduction situates the genre in its cultural context and argues for the significance of sensation drama to shifting theatrical cultures and practices.
Key Features
Provides detailed critical apparatus to facilitate the study of neglected plays, including performance history, notes and recommended further readingWidens the critical conversation on sensation drama by drawing attention to the work of female playwrightsReprints obscure works by popular authors and shows their involvement with both literary and theatrical cultures
Back Jacket
'This welcome book consists of a carefully edited and annotated selection of sensation dramas performed in the 1860s and 1870s, plus an informative and insightful introduction to the genre. It is an invaluable resource for students and scholars of Victorian culture, theatre and literature.' Jim Davis, University of Warwick Featuring previously unpublished material alongside famous plays This pioneering edition provides access to some of the most popular plays of the nineteenth century. Characterised by exhilarating plots, large-scale special effects and often transgressive characterisation, these dramas are still exciting for modern readers. This anthology lays the foundation for further scholarly work on sensation drama and focuses public attention on to this influential and immensely popular genre. It features five plays from writers including Dion Boucicault and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. These are supported by a substantial critical apparatus, which adds further value to the anthology by providing rich details on performance history and textual variants. The critical introduction situates the genre in its cultural context and argues for the significance of sensation drama to shifting theatrical cultures and practices. Joanna Hofer-Robinson is a Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century Literature at University College Cork. Beth Palmer is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Surrey. Cover image: Underground recue scene from a music cover for 'After Dark' (c) University of Kent Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN 978-1-4744-3953-4 Barcode
Author Biography
Joanna Hofer-Robinson (née Robinson) is a lecturer in nineteenth-century literature at University College Cork. Joanna completed her doctorate at King's College London, where she held an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award, and then moved to University College Dublin to take up a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the Irish Research Council. With research interests in nineteenth-century literature and theatre, Joanna is Project Lead for a practice-led research project (Dickensian Drama), which has staged two rarely-performed plays.
Dr Beth Palmer is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Surrey. She is the author of Women's Authorship and Editorship in Victorian Culture: Sensational Strategies (Oxford University Press, 2011) and a co-editor, with Adelene Buckland, of a volume entitled A Return to the Common Reader: Print Culture and the Novel, 1850-1900 (Ashgate, 2011). She is currently editing a special issue of the Journal of Neo-Victorian Studies with Dr Benjamin Poore at York University
