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Authorship and Appropriation
Writing for the Stage in England, 1660-1710
Paulina Kewes
318 pages
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10 black and white illustrations
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216x138mm
978-0-19-818468-3
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Hardback
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03 September 1998
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This item is printed to order. Items which are printed to order are normally despatched and charged within 5-10 days.
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- The first full-length study of the cultural and economic status of playwriting in the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
- Modern scholarship has supposed that stress on 'originality' in literature was largely a development of the C18. This book uses hitherto neglected evidence to testify to a substantial and growing concern for independent composition among playwrights and readers in the second half of the C17.
- Applies its argument a number of prominent playwrights of the period, including Dryden, Otway, Lee, Behn, and their successors Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar.
- Shows the Restoration period to have been one of serious and animated debate about the methods of playwriting.
Authorship and Appropriation is the first full-length study of the cultural and economic status of playwriting in the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and argues that the period was a decisive one in the transition from Renaissance conceptions of authorship towards modern ones. In Shakespeare's time, the creative originality and independence of voice had been little prized. Playwrights had appropriated materials from earlier writings with little censure, while the practice of collaboration among dramatists had been taken for granted. Paulina Kewes demonstrates that, in the decades following
the Restoration, those attitudes were challenged by new conceptions of dramatic art which required authors to be the sole begetters of their works.
This book explores a series of developments in the theatrical marketplace which increased both the rewards and the prestige of the dramatist, and shows the Restoration period to have been one of serious and animated debate about the methods of playwriting. Against that background, Kewes offers a fresh account of the formation of the canon of English drama, revealing how the moderns - Dryden, Otway, Lee, Behn, and then their successors Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar - acquired an esteem equal, even superior, to their illustrious predecessors Shakespeare, Jonson, and
Fletcher.Readership: Scholars and students of C17 and C18 literature and drama in particular; the history of publishing and bibliography.
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Paulina Kewes, Lecturer in English, Department of English, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
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"The study represents a formidable amount of research ... combines thoroughness with an ability to theorize, close reading with an ability to chart developments in politics, economics, theatre and publishing. ... By looking at archive material in a fresh light, Kewes is able to offer a fresh account of the formation of the canon of English drama. Her work impacts on a variety of fields apart from theatre studies, from bibliography to Schakespeare studies. I felt humbled by this book and productively challenged." - Theatre Research International, vol. 26/3
"quite subtle (and sometimes conflicting) notions of appropriative licence and limitation are identified, distinct both from earlier notions of imitation and the later cult of originality." - Theatre Research International, vol. 26/3
"This ground-breaking and scholarly book charts the transition from Renaissance ideas of dramatic authorship to modern ones." - Theatre Research International, vol. 26/3
"Perhaps the greatest compliment one can offer Kewes is to say that this monograph makes one long for her to go on and explore such matters further." - Malcolm Kelsall, The Yearbook of English Studies (31)
"The two long discussions of Langbaine are particularly strong and deserve to provoke renewed attention to the issue of "sources" in Restoration theatre." - Malcolm Kelsall, The Yearbook of English Studies (31)
"the enormous strength of this monograph is the close attention given to the detail of the market as it developed." - Malcolm Kelsall, The Yearbook of English Studies (31)
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A Note on Dates and Texts
Prologue
1: The Playwright and the Marketplace
2: The Proprieties of Appropriation
3: Plagiarism and Property
4: Collaboration
5: The Canon
Epilogue
Appendix A: Dramatic Collaboration, 1590-1720
Appendix B: Collected Editions of Plays, 1604-1720
Bibliography
Index of Plays
General Index
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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