Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Print and Performance in the 1820s
  • Cited by 15
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
March 2020
Print publication year:
2020
Online ISBN:
9781108656832
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108656832
Subjects:
Literature, Printing and Publishing History, English Literature 1700-1830
Series:
Cambridge Studies in Romanticism (127)
Information

Book description

During the 1820s, British society saw transformations in technology, mobility, and consumerism that accelerated the spread of information. This timely study reveals how bestselling literature, popular theatre, and periodical journalism self-consciously experimented with new media. It presents an age preoccupied with improvisation and speculation – a mode of behaviour that dominated financial and literary markets, generating reflections on risk, agency, and the importance of public opinion. Print and Performance in the 1820s interprets a rich constellation of fictional texts and theatrical productions that gained popularity among middle-class metropolitan audiences through experiments with intersecting fantasy worlds and acutely described real worlds. Providing new contexts for figures such as Byron and Scott, and recovering the work of lesser-known contemporaries including Charles Mathews' character impersonations and the performances of celebrity improvvisatore Tommaso Sgricci, Angela Esterhammer explores the era's influential representations of the way identity is constructed, performed, and perceived.

Reviews

‘In pondering the performativity of language and literature, no surer and more capable guide can be found than Angela Esterhammer.’

Frederick Burwick Source: The BARS Review

‘Esterhammer's ability to make the history feel modern throughout will appeal to scholars of theater, literature, and history.’

J. Rodzvilla Source: Choice

‘The richness of … [this book's] collection-point to the exciting possibilities materialist reading continues to offer scholars of British Romanticism.’

Kristin Flieger Samuelian Source: European Romantic Review

‘Angela Esterhammer’s latest monograph presents a vividly detailed, panoramic view of a decade that was long disregarded as a disappointing lull between the heights of Romanticism and Victoria’s ascension … The study’s greatest contribution to literary studies may be to foster many such additional readings with its fresh understanding of the 1820s as an exuberant era of risk-taking experimentation in performance and print. Reading it is an immersive experience that provides a clear and convincing take on a fascinating decade.’

Sarah Zimmerman Source: The Wordsworth Circle

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

Contents

Contents

Metrics

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.