Early Modern Spectatorship: Interpreting English Culture, 1500-1780 - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 077355677X ISBN 13: 9780773556775

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2019

Synopsis

What did it mean to be a spectator during the lifetime of Shakespeare or of Aphra Behn? In Early Modern Spectatorship contributors use the idea of spectatorship to reinterpret canonical early modern texts and bring visibility to relatively unknown works. While many early modern spectacles were designed to influence those who watched, the very presence of spectators and their behaviour could alter the conduct and the meaning of the event itself. In the case of public executions, for example, audiences could both observe and be observed by the executioner and the condemned. Drawing on work in the digital humanities and theories of cultural spectacle, these essays discuss subjects as various as the death of Desdemona in Othello, John Donne's religious orientation, Ned Ward's descriptions of London, and Louis Laguerre's murals painted for the residences of English aristocrats. A lucid exploration of subtle questions, Early Modern Spectatorship identifies, imagines, and describes the spectator's experience in early modern culture.

About this title

About the Authors

Ronald Huebert is professor emeritus in the Department of English at Dalhousie University and Inglis Professor at the University of King's College.

David McNeil is a former associate professor in the Department of English at Dalhousie University.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 077355677X
• ISBN 13: 9780773556775
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448
• Editor: Huebert Ronald, McNeil David